Events in the German media coupled with the departure of one of his team's big names means Sam Bennett looks more certain than ever to be on the start line of the Tour de France in July and to be central to his team's plans in the race.
Having enjoyed a string of victories in his maiden season with NetApp-Endura in 2014, Irish sprinter Sam Bennett’s chances of riding the Tour de France next July now look better than ever.
His squad has been rebranded as Team Bora Argon 18 for next year and will once again compete at ProContinental level.
It remains registered in Germany, a fact that could prove vital to Bennett’s chances of going head-to-head with the best sprinters in the world in France in July.
Last month, the major German television channels that had refused to broadcast the Tour de France because doping had so undermined the sport’s credibility announced they were reconsidering.
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ARD and ZDF had refused to screen the race live since 2012.
But in recent weeks ARD chairman Lutz Marmor signalled a softening in the attitude towards the event.
He said at the time that cycling had made progress in trying to tackle the drugs problem.
Allied to that, German sprinter Marcel Kittel has emerged as the new fastest man in the world since the Tour was last broadcast live in Germany by the major channels.
Leopold König's 7th place overall in the Tour this year showed the race organisers Bennett's team can mix it with the big guns. The trust that performance built up, allied with the need to keep German television happy, means the squad receiving a wild card entry into the race again looks inevitable (Photo: Sirotti)
It was widely reported last month that ARD and ZDF would make an announcement by the end of this month on whether they would broadcast the race live again in 2015.
And while that announcement is still awaited, the German media have suggested the decision is made and the race will be back on TV screens in that country.
In the German media yesterday, ARD sports chief Axel Balkausky reiterated that cycling had done more than most in recent years to combat doping.
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“A new generation of riders has clearly committed in public against doping which gives (cycling) more credibility,” he said.
He also believed the current riders were achieving their success “differently than the generations before them”.
Bennett’s team rode the Tour this year, though the Carrick man was not selected.
If the major television stations in Germany, the biggest market in the EU, agree to broadcast the race again, Tour organisers ASO will do everything in their power to maximise German interest in the event.
Paul Voss paces Bennett on the climbs of stage 4 of this year's Tirreno - Adriatico. The Irishman would need to be aided through the Tour's high mountains. But with his speed and his ability to get over some climbs that other pure sprinters cannot, his team would throw its weight behind him towards hunting for stage wins (Photo: Sirotti)
The biggest point of German interest will undoubtedly be Kittel’s presence with his German-registered WorldTour team Giant-Alpecin.
Team Bora Argon 18 is the only German-registered ProContinental team big enough and good enough to ride the race.
And against the backdrop of trying to shore up renewed German TV interest in the Tour, it seems certain Bennett’s team will once again get one of the wild card invitations available to teams competing in pro cycling’s second tier.
This year the team’s Czech rider Leopold König was the man around whom the Tour de France team was built, with all of the squad’s efforts aimed towards getting him as high as possible in the final overall.
Bennett’s omission from the Tour line-up was in large part due to the fact his participation, as a sprinter, would do little to enhance that team goal.
König delivered in great style, taking 7th overall in Paris, another factor that makes the team’s participation in 2015 very likely.
But he has since moved on and so the team for next year’s Tour should be built around possible stage wins, with Bennett looking very likely to be at the centre of those plans.
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