With Sam Bennett having finally officially signed for Deceuninck-QuickStep, in a two-year deal, thoughts have immediately turned to what he might achieve as a member of the Wolf Pack.
Team directeur Brian Holm recently said he believed Bennett could win any of the cobbled classics. He added the Irishman was a rare breed; a sprinter who could also climb a little.
However, will all eyes will be on Bennett to see if he can adapt to the classics aged 29 years, it is the Tour de France that perhaps holds most interest.
Bennett has been denied a ride in that race with
Bora-hansgrohe in recent years due to the presence of Peter Sagan in the team.
But now that he is with Deceuninck-QuickStep his
inclusion in that team’s Tour line-up seems inevitable.
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If he is selected, what might he do in a Tour with a
relatively limited number of chances for the sprinters?
The first and most obvious chance he will get in the Tour
de France next year is the opening stage. And if he were to win that it would
also see him take the yellow jersey.
Such an outcome would catapult him to stardom, even among
an Irish public that is more interested in soccer, Gaelic Games and rugby.
The stage 1 course seems tailor made for him; a number of
climbs that should jettison or soften up the other sprinters followed by a flat
run in before a sprint (he hopes) up the Promenade des Anglais.
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There are no categorised climbs on the stage but it is
far from a straightforward day for the faster men in the race.
It starts and finishes in Nice and over the 170km route
there are three 50km laps, with a climb each time, and an additional small
climb after they come off the circuits. That’s followed by 40km of downhill or
flat to the finish.
It’s framed by the Tour organisers as a day for the
sprinters but with 1,600 metres of climbing it seems certain only some of the
sprinters will be there.
And given Bennett’s superior climbing, he will hopefully
be in the best condition of the sprinters who survive in the front group.
Given the course suits him, and won’t suit other sprinters;
you can expect many Irish fans to travel to the Grand Depart in anticipation of
the first Irish yellow jersey at the Tour since 1987.
If nothing else it will be spectator friendly; lots of
places to catch the opening stage several times followed by a second stage that
starts and finishes in Nice and stage 3 which also starts there.
Tour de France 2020 opening two stages
Tour de France 2020 stage 1: There are climbs to be tackled but this is one that could really suit Sam Bennett
Stage 2: A hillier proposition where there may be a sprint from a front group of reduced peloton
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