Sam Bennett has said one of the things he needs to watch out for on La Vuelta is the heat, especially when temperatures reach up to 40°C on those stages with very steep climbs. As a result, he has made some special preparations, including training in the south of France wearing his winter training kit.
“I am, of course, Irish so the heat can sometimes get to me," he said. "But after the Tour of Poland – where it wasn't very hot – I specifically worked on that.
"I trained in Monaca wearing winter clothes, just to get the body temperature up. It will be okay in the sprint stages, but I have a hard time on steep climbs at more than forty degrees. Then you really don't feel a breath of wind."
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Bennett was speaking to journalists during a video interview ahead of the start of La Vuelta on Friday. The Irish rider goes into the race when Ryan Mullen and Danny van Poppel as lead-out mean. And with at least six likely sprinters' stages, and a less than stacked sprint field, the Spanish Grand Tour represents a great chance for him to salvage a difficult season.
It will be Bennett's first Grand Tour for over two years after injury meant he missed both the Tour and Vuelta last year and he was no selected for the Tour by Bora-hansgrohe this year.
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“My personal goals are clear: I want to win a stage and fight for the points jersey. Since 2018 I have won a stage in every Grand Tour I have started. I want to maintain that statistic," he said, adding Mullen and Van Poppel are the right men to have helping his efforts.
“Having their support makes it all that much easier. I know they can always bring me and the more often you get the chance to sprint, the more likely it will fall your way.
"That's exactly what I found so difficult this season: in this team I have the right program, the right bike and the right riders to support. And at the same time, I was never one hundred percent ready to seize those opportunities.
"You do not want to experience that you are only in shape when all those favorable factors are suddenly no longer there. I am very happy that I am still so well supported in the Vuelta.”
Before he gets his likely first chance for a stage win on Saturday, Bennett will ride the team TT on Friday. It's an important stage for his team as it has GC contenders Sergio Higuita and Giro winner Jai Hindley in its ranks.
“You can't win the Vuelta there, but you can lose it. I hope for a solid performance. In the first place, I don't want to disappoint anyone there," said Bennett.
