Irish sprinter Sam Bennett is set to ride the Tour de France after being given the all clear in health checks conducted by his team.
Deceuninck–QuickStep had always planned to build most of
its team around Bennett for the sprints and have Julian Alaphilippe free to
ride his own race.
However, when Bennett suffered a knee injury the week
before last his team boss Patrick Lefevere said he was very concerned the
Irishman may not be able to ride the Tour.
He also speculated that Mark Cavendish could be given an improved contract, to improve his deal to cover his participation in the Tour in the event Bennett was unable to ride.
“The problem is that he is suffering from inflammation of
the patellar tendon and that’s a persistent injury,” Lefevere said of Bennett
in his column in Nieuwsblad.
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“We’ve been through it before with Tom Boonen, Zdenek
Stybar and Andrea Bagioli, all of whom even had surgery. Will Sam make the
Tour? At the moment we don’t know. He has to rest until at least Monday.”
The Irish rider, who won two stages and the green jersey
at last year’s Tour, was ordered to rest until Monday.
And now he has passed health checks carried out by the
team. That means he is cleared to be on the start line for the Tour the weekend
after next.
The news will come as a great relief to Bennett, Irish
cycling fans and his team. Bennett had made no public comment since news first
emerged that he was injured.
Cavendish had spoken a number of times and said Bennett was
the team’s obvious choice for a sprinter at the Tour. However, he added he
would be willing and ready to step in in the event Bennett was unable to go.
In a just-published interview in the Telegraph newspaper
in Britain, Cavendish said he had gone to Italy to train for the Tour as if he
was riding it. He added he had a suitcase packed for the Tour in case he was
drafted into the team.
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