Sam Bennett has said he opted out of Milan-Sanremo because there was a tailwind up the key climbs and he felt there was no point in riding the race in his current condition but added he has gained 300 watts in his sprint in recent weeks.
The Irishman said he was close to regaining his
winning form, adding while Wout van Aert was aiming for the Tour de France
green jersey this year, he was ready to challenge the Belgian and believed he
could win the points classification again.
Bennett said while he felt ill after Paris-Nice, he did a series of Covid-19 tests and all of them were negative. It was the predicted wind direction up the climbs in the finale of Saturday’s Milan-Sanremo that convinced him not to ride the Italian monument.
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“(Last) Wednesday I went to train in Sanremo and I noticed that there was tailwind on the Poggio and Cipressa. I realised there would be little point in riding in those conditions,” Bennett said in an interview with Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad ahead of today’s Classic Brugge-De Panne, which he won last year.
“I feel I need a few more weeks to get to my best
form, but I'm close to it. In the past few weeks I have gained three hundred
watts in my sprint, without training for my sprint. That's how it always goes
when I gain fitness."
Bennett declined to comment when asked about his dispute last year with Deceuninck-QuickStep boss Patrick Lefevere, other than stating he had two great years with the team. He also remained close with many of the riders as he had gotten on so well with them, he said.
“They were definitely good years, but I wasn't as
good as I could have been. I took advantage of the Quick-Step effect. That team
is so strong,” he said.
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“When I won the green jersey, they really pulled me through the Tour. No, that's not too modest. I am not afraid to say that many people there have helped me achieve my goals. They were fantastic years at Quick-Step, I learned a lot about myself,” he said, adding he wanted to reach that level again.
Bennett also believes his new lead-out train – Irish
champion Ryan Mullen, Kiwi Shane Archbald and Dutchman Danny van Poppel – can deliver
him in the sprints, saying they already did so at UAE Tour, where he himself
was a little below par.
When asked if his relationships at Bora-hansgrohe had soured when he left that team in 2019 – only to return for this season and next – Bennett said that was not the case.
“It just got a little complicated for me. As a
sprinter I was in a team with Peter Sagan and Pascal Ackermann, who did very
well and was also German. I left because I wanted space for myself. I've had
very good discussions with (general manager) Ralph (Denk) now.”
Bennett added he was now very mentally fresh because he had time away from the bike last year when he was injured in the second half of the season. And he was up for the challenge of trying to beat Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) to the green jersey at the Tour de France in July.
“Yes, Wout is amazing. The way he rides is just unreal, which doesn't mean I won't try to beat him in the Tour. Although I sometimes wonder how I'm going to do that,” he said.
“I have to study the route again where I can take
points on Wout and where not. But I'm ready to take up the gauntlet. I believe
I have a good chance of winning the green jersey again. That is the advantage
of all those months without a race: I have a lot of mental freshness.”
