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Sean Kelly believes Sam Bennett is continuing to
significantly improve as a bike rider to the extent he is at a much higher
level this year, even compared to last year when he had a dream season.
Kelly believes there are three main reasons, the first
being that some athletes can continue to get better in their late 20s and into
their 30s. He says this is something that is often overlooked, especially in
cycling at present when so many riders in their early and mid 20s are winning
the biggest races.
Secondly, Kelly says that for a whole variety of reasons
– more on this in a moment – Bennett was a late starter in pro cycling and so
his development stage is now akin to a rider between three and five years
younger.
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Thirdly – and most significantly according to Kelly – Bennett rode the Tour de France last year in a way he had never ridden any Grand Tour, indeed any race, before. Kelly notes Bennett was forced to race, and race hard, every day to secure the green jersey from Peter Sagan. And he says the mental and physical effort required – and the impact it had on him – was transformative for Bennett as an athlete.
With Milan-Sanremo tomorrow, we also asked Kelly how he would approach the race to win if he was Bennett. (Furthermore, we did a piece with Kelly about his brilliant win in the race back in 1992, the second of his two wins. You can read that story by following this link)
When asked what he thought of Bennett’s season so far, especially his ride in Paris-Nice, Kelly said it was clear “he’s in exceptional form”.
While Bennett’s status as a sprinter was now so established, Kelly expected him to win the two bunch sprints at Paris-Nice. But he said Bennett’s performances on the hillier days – “pulling the breakaway along on the climbs” – really underlined his condition.
Tour 2020 transformed Bennett
Kelly is convinced Bennett has improved dramatically this year, though he is now 30 years old, and he believes it is almost all down to the Tour de France last season. But the manner of his ride and not just his stage wins.
“We talked about him for Milan-Sanremo last year, but really he’s way ahead now of where he was last year,” Kelly said.
“I think the Tour last year just gave him extra stamina. When
you’re a sprinter, you only need to properly ride the stages that suit you as a
sprinter. And then you try and sit back the other days. So that Tour, and the
way he had to ride it; that really improved him.
“Also, mentally it made him strong because he was up there
every day. We saw with Sagan; there was days at the start of stages when it was
a bit lumpy and Sagan and his team were trying everything to put Sam into
difficulty. So he had to be alert every day, especially in that final week or
ten days of the race.”
Kelly added some of the stages, and the way Bennett was
able to perform, appeared to be an eye-opener to Bennett himself. They showed
him he could take on classics men head-to-head and match them and even beat
them.
“That was especially so on the third last stage when he was in a breakaway with Sagan and a lot of classics guys; that gave him a big confidence boost. He mentioned that in his interview after the stage; saying to be up there was amazing. So all of that made him more confident and stronger.”
Early problems, late development
While the narrative around pro cycling in the last couple of seasons has been the emergence of very young riders winning the biggest races, Kelly said cyclists could still improve into their late 20s and early 30s. And he was not surprised Bennett was falling into that category; his Deceuninck-QuickStep team mate Davide Ballerini another late developer, now winning regularly for the first time aged 26 years.
Kelly explained top quality coaching – powered by
technology and data - had become very advanced in recent years and the
knowledge was available to everyone. And he believed the riders who were now
already top pros at 21 or 22 years old had been training with the same quality
and accuracy as the pros from the time they were 15 or 16 years old.
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However, that was not the case for Sam Bennett when he was younger because he was hit with injuries and crashes and his development was frustrated as a result, Kelly said - including having both knees operated on.
And he believed a rider like that was more likely to find
improvements in his abilities as he aged - as his problems cleared up and he
was able to get season after season of hard racing into his body without being
knocked off course.
“Sam had a huge talent as a junior and in the U23s, but injury was a problem for him; that went on for a long time. When he was with the An Post team, he had two years there where he was stop-start the whole time. And that delayed his progress to be good at 23, 24, 25 years old.
And now he’s coming really good a little later. He’s one of those guys who has taken his time to build that stamina. As I said earlier, the Tour last year was a big one for him in that sense.
“We have these guys now who are huge talents, and already have that stamina at 20 years old or 21. But, believe me, they have done a lot even at that young age; with their training and so on. And that’s why they are so good immediately.
“They have being training (like pros) for maybe five or six years by the time they’re 22 years old. That wasn’t the case with Sam. When he had five or six years done like that, without problems, he was maybe already 26 years old.”
If you were Sam Bennett, how would you win Milan-Sanremo?
Kelly believes Bennett can win Milan-Sanremo tomorrow but says a lot will depend on how the big three ride – Mathieu van der Poel, Julian Alaphilippe and Wout Van Aert. When pressed by stickybottle, Kelly said he thought Van de Poel was most likely to win.
Despite that, he said Bennett could win. And he insisted
he didn’t want to see Sam Bennett even once during the TV coverage until the very
end. He said if we were able to see Bennett on our screens then the
Carrick-on-Suir man was not hiding away and minding himself enough.
He needed to “mind himself” on the Cipressa – mainly with
a view to being positioned well and staying safe on the descent. Then as the
Poggio approached Bennett needed to remain between 15th and 20th
in the group, and not move up any further towards the front.
“Between the bottom of the Cipressa and the start of the Poggio you have to hide, but be at that front section. But we don’t want to see him on the TV because that means he’ll have his nose in the wind. Then once they are on the Poggio, be in the top 15. I think what Sam has to do (on the Poggio) is stay in that position between 12th and 15th and follow, follow.
“When these guys like Alaphilippe, Van Aert, Van der Poel
hit it; that’s a problem, these guys are super explosive. So unless there’s a
headwind on the Poggio or a team that can keep a high pace with a few riders,
there’ll be serious ground to be made up on them on the descent.”
Kelly said if Bennett sat just outside the top 10, by the
time the accelerations of the attackers traveled back through the front of the
group and reached him they would be a little bit more manageable.
“If you’re too far back the gaps are opening and you have
to close them. If you’re too far forward when the attacks go, you are hit with
the maximum sudden acceleration. But if you sit back 12th to 15th,
that pull from the acceleration is not as bad, it’s a bit calmer back there.
“He has to reserve his energy. I know Sam is in super
shape, but that Poggio is going to be difficult if those guys really blow it
up. But if Van der Poel attacks, and Van Aert and Alaphilippe and they don’t
want to ride…. if one of them is not feeling great? They might cancel each
other out.
“And maybe then Sam is getting ever so close to the top of the Poggio… If he gets to the finish line with a group with, say, 50 or 60 guys, depending on how deep he had to go on the climb; well, then he’s in there to win it. You have others of course in that scenario, Michael Matthews is one. These guys are always there, they’re waiting. It’s always difficult to actually win it.”
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