Sean Kelly has said he would have expected Sam Bennett to have taken his first win of the season by now, adding some degree of “panic” will begin to set in the longer it takes to score a victory.
Former World No 1, nine-time Monument winner and 1988 Vuelta champion, Kelly also believed Bennett was missing the expert and powerful lead-out he had over the last two years with Patrick Lefevere’s QuickStep team, especially "robot" Michael Mørkøv.
Bennett's interviews before and after races have been notably relaxed in recent weeks, with no hint of panic about the absence of a win so far this year. He has lavished praise on his new lead-out line-up and commented very favourably on the atmosphere in Bora-hansgrohe, which he rejoined this year after two brilliant seasons with Deceuninck-QuickStep.
Advertisement
By this time last year the Carrick-on-Suir man already had five wins under his belt. While recent months have been harder - as he tries to find top gear after an injury-hit 2021 - he will know that if one or two wins come soon, the slower start to the year will be forgotten.
However, Kelly said while Bennett clearly knows how to win the top races, and has the quality to get back to the top, he will now be very conscious he needs to make things happen soon.
“It's always a concern when you're out for a number of months, as Sam was last year,” said Kelly of Bennett’s knee injury, which effectively sidelined him from mid May, by which time he had already taken seven wins.
Kelly continued: “At the Tour of Turkey I thought Sam would get a stage or two there because the racing level there wasn't as high as some of the other races he would be doing. But, of course, he did come up against some of the other good sprinters; some of them were there in Turkey.
“From my point of view, it (winning again) is taking a bit longer than I was expecting. He'll be hoping that he can catch a win again really quicky otherwise he will be saying to himself: ‘Have I lost that really high-speed that I had last year, that I had at the (2020) Tour’,” Kelly suggested.
Related News
He explained riders “do get into a little bit of a panic situation”, especially sprinters, when they are trying for victories that won't come. “Definitely the longer it goes on, you start doubting yourself a bit,” he said.
“And with sprinters... when you get a win, that gives you confidence. But first of all you have to have the legs to be able to get a win. And that's something that Sam has been missing in some of the races. We've seen he's been there and he's got it to a point where he needs to just open up his sprint, but he hasn't got it on occasions."
Kelly also felt the switch from QuickStep to Bora-hansgrohe was a factor for Bennett this year; one that was not going in his favour. In short, he said Bennett is really missing the best lead-out man in the game; Michael Mørkøv
“The one thing I will say is the team (Bora-hansgrohe) has been trying to do the best job possible, but it's not a Mørkøv in the final. When you have the guys like they have at Quick-Step and then you have Mørkøv there… he doesn't even look around in the sprints. He knew that Sam was there and he was going to have to follow him, he was like a robot.”
Asked if Bennett would have already won some races by now if he was still with Quick-Step, Kelly suspected the first win would have already been taken.
“He definitely would have been closer and I think he might have gotten a win if he’d had that Quick-Step lead out and then Mørkøv just dropping him off at the right time in the right position.”
Bennett has so far this season taken three podium placings, including 2nd in his first race of 2022; the opening stage at UAE Tour. He has been full of his praise for his new lead-out line-up, saying they had gotten him into the right position for the sprints. He has looked at himself instead, saying he has lacked some kick in the final sprints but was confident his winning sprint would come good.
However, Kelly feels that, on the basis of the lead-out so far, the final steps have not gone as smoothly as when Bennett worked with Mørkøv. “You're up against the world class guys in these sprints – the lead-out men and the sprinters – and that lead-out has to be just perfect,” he said.
