After taking his second stage in two days at the Tour of Turkey, Sam Bennett said he was focused on the race he is currently riding rather than the Giro d’Italia.
He was informed late last year he would not be riding the
Italian Grand Tour, though he won three stages there last May.
Instead, his German WorldTour team, Bora-hansgrohe, has
decided to pick German champion Pascal Ackermann as their sprinter for the
race.
Since that news broke Bennett has lit up the 2019 season;
winning in every stage race he has ridden. And now he’s taken two wins in both
the Tour of Turkey and Paris-Nice.
Few would bet against him adding more victories before
Tour of Turkey ends in Istanbul on Sunday.
Indeed, of the four stages to come only Saturday’s
outing, with a 12km climb at the finish, is not suited to Sam Bennett.
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He faced the inevitable questions about his team’s Giro
selection yesterday, but he insisted he had to get on with the job at hand.
The team, he added, had to make selection choices. And he was simply focused on trying to win in the races he was riding rather than thinking about those he wouldn’t be competing in.
He also said he had the Vuelta to look forward to. And he
did not regard his wins so far this year, six and counting, as revenge for not
being picked for the Giro.
“It’s not revenge, I want to win for Bora-hansgrohe,” he
said when asked by reporters yesterday.
“They’re happy when I’m winning. I’m very proud to ride
for this team and I’m delighted when I win for them.”
He added of the Giro: “I’ve already spoken about this. It
is what it is. And I have to respect the opinion of my team. They’re my boss. I
do what they say.”
When asked again, he replied: “I have no more comment on
that. We’re in Turkey now and my focus is in this race.”
The only disappointment he has endured this season was
not sprinting for victory in Milan-Sanremo.
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Instead, the race was decided in a gallop from a breakaway that went clear over the top of the Poggio.
After the classic in Italy, Sam Bennett said he took a
break from the bike. He explained he needed to bring his form down a little in
order not to overdo things.
And while he felt it might take some time to hit the
heights again, he was delighted to notch up two wins as quickly as he has in
Turkey.
Yesterday his team rode incredibly well; active initially
in helping to bring back the early breakaway.
And in doing that they showed confidence in Bennett
despite the uphill finish into Eceabat.
Close to the finish Bennett’s team mate Lukas Pöstlberger
attacked. However, after gaining a gap on his own he faded at the last and
Bennett took it up and won.
Another of the team’s riders, Felix Großschartner, took 2nd
place. It was a top result as the team’s general classification man is Großschartner
and he is now 2nd overall.
He gained time on many of his rivals for outright victory
yesterday when gaps opened in the bunch.
Bennett was quick to thank his team mates for all their
work over the past two days, saying it was instrumental in his success.
“I said to my guys, that they should go and I’ll tell
them on the climb if I feel strong enough or not because the stage wasn’t so
easy with the finale,” he said.
“I pushed hard and with Felix finishing in second place I
think we showed another amazing team effort.”
Bennett will have another chance as early as today on the
122.6km stage from Çanakkale to Edremit. It features a cat 3 climb crested with
about 50km remaining.
Given the way the Irish rider sprinted up the final climb
yesterday it should pose no problems for him.
However, Deceuninck-QuickStep has its young sprinters Fabio
Jakobsen (22) and Álvaro José Hodeg (22) in the race. Both riders will fancy
their chances of picking up a win in coming days.
Likewise, Lotto-Soudal will be disappointed not to come
away with something via Caleb Ewan, though he crashed yesterday.
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