Sam Bennett has said his knee injury was now pain free but he needed more time to be sure it was fully recovered and also to regain race condition.
The Carrick-on-Suir man also explained the injury was
caused when he hit his knee off the handlebars after his gears slipped while
training.
He will not start the Tour de France this Saturday and
has been replaced on the Deceuninck-QuickStep team by Mark Cavendish.
News of the injury first emerged two weeks ago when the
team announced Bennett would not be able to ride Baloise Belgium Tour.
Just days later his team boss Patrick Lefevere said Bennett needed to rest and last week news emerged Bennett had been medically cleared to ride the Tour. However, yesterday when the team’s selection for the Tour was announced Bennett was not in the line-up.
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His team boss Patrick Lefevere has made unusual remarks
in questioning if performance anxiety, rather than the knee injury, was the
reason Bennett was not riding the Tour.
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For his part, Bennett (30) said he was very disappointed
to miss the Tour, adding there were still goals for him to target later in the
year. But he said he needed to be sure the injury was cleared up, though he
believed it was a short term issue.
Speaking to the Irish Independent yesterday Bennett made no comment on what Lefevere had said. He confirmed he was now pain free but added the standard at the Tour would be so high he needed to be in top shape if he was to start the race.
"I don't have pain now, which is the most
frustrating thing," he said. "The
knee is pretty much there now, but it's one of those small things that could
come against me after a few days, so it would be unfair to the team to start.”
He believed if he started the Tour he “probably wouldn’t
get through the first week” and he wanted to have a long career so he needed to
give himself time to make sure the injury was fully resolved.
Because he had knee problems earlier in his career, he said he knew the difference between pain from a minor knock and pain due to an injury that may persist and do damage. While it initially felt minor, that worsened after a number of days.
He added that having been unable to train hard – and do any rides above three hours – for two weeks his fitness was gone and he simply had to make a decision, which meant missing the Tour.
"I’m at the top of my game now and these
opportunities don’t come around too often but I had to call it a day at a
certain point,” he said.
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