Sean Kelly has blunt words of warning for Sam Bennett ahead of his Tour de France debut on Saturday. But he also believes big opportunities are on offer in the weeks ahead.
By Brian Canty
"Sam will not have done anything like the Tour de France before; it's more aggressive, more competitive and more dangerous than anything he's done before now."
That's the message from Irish cycling legend Sean Kelly to Sam Bennett, who makes his debut in the three-week Grand Tour this weekend.
Kelly admitted the illness that has kept Bennett out of action for the last couple of weeks is "not an ideal scenario". But he also suggested the race presents chances for stage wins.
"It's a bit of an unknown for him, it's not a perfect situation the way he's been sick the last two weeks," said the former world number one.
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"You'd like to have seen him do a race in the last week but unfortunately, he hasn't been able to do the program he would have preferred to do.
"So the question now is, 'will it affect him big time or will he overcome all that and be real good?' We'll have to wait until the first day or two to see.
Sean Kelly says only time will tell whether Sam Bennett's recent illness has caused a slump in form. But he strongly believes the absence of Marcel Kittel from the Tour de France means the sprint finishes will be more open. There is still the small matter of Mark Cavendish to beat though.
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"When you haven't raced for a long time some guys have a difficulty getting back into the rhythm and it takes one or two days. Other guys can have a long break and can come back no problem.
"Being his first Tour maybe he'll just be really up for it and overcome all that so he just has to go into the first road stage and take it from there."
But on the flip side, Kelly said because of the absence of Marcel Kittel, winner of four stages 12 months ago, Bennett can go in believing he can win a stage.
"It's very open for the sprints and hopefully Sam can be competitive from the start because the opportunities to win are there this year.
"Kittel is out and so is Bouhanni but I wouldn't have any fear of him if I was Sam. He wouldn't be a problem.
"But Kittel was unbeatable last year so that's a good situation where there's no big sprinter like him. It's not going to be easy though.
"The Tour is more aggressive, some of the one-day classics like Scheldeprijs are hectic and we see every year when they start racing in the end there's at least one big stack up.
"You go to a Dauphine or a Paris Nice and there's decent sprints but nothing like the Tour de France.
"The Tour is much more aggressive, everyone wants a result there; it's more competitive and more dangerous."
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