Bennett in attacking mode in the Tour of Britain last year; he’s looking forward to the new season
By Brian Canty
Sam Bennett has said he is keen to put behind him the lack of Irish Sports Council financial support for 2013, and instead to look ahead after having had two operations lately that cleared up niggling knee complaints.
The 22-year-old professional is set for his third season with the Belgian-based An Post-Sean Kelly outfit and sees the season ahead as something of a make or break year as he aims to land himself a contract with a ProTour team for 2014.
With that in mind, his preparations for the forthcoming early season races are well underway.
“We were in Spain there for a block of training recently,” said Bennett.
“The week before we went I still had problems with my knee and I couldn’t do more than an hour easy. I came into the camp holding onto the car on each climb but by the end of the week we were doing six-hour spins and I was able for it. When I did the Vo2 and power test a bit after the camp I discovered my threshold only went down a slight bit from last June or July. So if I can keep it there and build on it hopefully that’ll be good.”
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Indeed, Bennett has been dogged by injuries in recent years. A horror crash at the end of 2010 set him back for 2011. And last season a condition known as plica synovialis, which causes rubbing of the knee joints, afflicted him throughout some of his biggest races. But that appears to be behind him now.
“Some people are born with it around the knee. When you’re a cyclist you can ‘catch’ that at a certain angle and irritate it; it doesn’t cause injury but a lot of pain and friction. I also had scar tissue from when I was hit by the car and some micro-tears so they did two keyhole’s in each knee and cleaned it all up. It was sore for a while but it’s good now.”
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“I was only in the hospital for one day for the operations but I couldn’t walk for a good week or two. I was still trying to do rehab where there was a bit of movement in it so I don’t stiffen up too much. Trying to get the flexion back as soon as possible was the biggest issue,” he added.
In the season ahead, the race programme will be similar to what the team did in 2012, he said.
“Last year I was kind of sick at the start of the year and I kept coming back too quick after and dragging it on. Now, I’m more mature in how I listen to my body though and I know how to recognise symptoms. And I hope I’ll kick off the season at the right time and carry on with the rest of the races.”
Bennett is just one of a number of Irish riders who will receive no sports grants this year from the Irish Sports Council after the citeria was made substantially harder, pushing the bar out of reach of any road rider at elite, U23 or junior level.
And while a number of others can also feel aggrieved, Bennett had perhaps the strongest case for support.
He said his displays in the European Championships and the World Championships gave him huge belief that he’s able for a career at the very top of the sport.
“In the Europeans I thought it was all over on the last lap because I got a puncture but I just about got back on and got 7th and that shocked me. I was delighted because two weeks before that at the Nationals I couldn’t cycle out of my way. Two weeks before hand Kurt (An Post-Seam Kelly manager) told me I was overweight. But I put everything into it, ate, slept and trained well, did everything at the same time and that result woke me up a bit and gave me a good feeling.”
“And at the Worlds, I was delighted with my performance too. I was there and could see the podium but I couldn’t get on it. I really wanted to get on it. The result I got was due to the team. The lads made great efforts and turns and I appreciate it.”
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