Sam Bennett in his pre-season promo photos for An Post-Chainreaction; he'll be unveiled soon as a NetApp-Endura rider and his old manager believes the more rigid racing at the higher level he is moving to may suit Bennett better (Photo: www.at-evh.be)
By Brian Canty
An Post-Chainreaction manager, Kurt Bogaerts said he is sad to see Sam Bennett leave the team to join Pro Continental outfit NetApp Endura for 2014 - but believes the 23-year-old can do great things in the sport.
Bogaerts has known Bennett since was U16 and always believed he’d get to where he is now, saying that the German-registered team are a good choice for the Carrick-on-Suir man.
“I know Sam from when he was young, when I had the academy in Belgium and when we did camps for U16s two or three times a year,” said Bogaerts.
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“I’ve followed him from the start and seen that the talent is there. But of course there were circumstances that didn’t make it easy to succeed so quick, like injuries and bad luck.”
“But I have always had a lot of belief in Sam’s capabilities and I see more than a sprinter in him; he can climb well also. Sometimes it’s about convincing him he can do it because that’s not always easy.”
“He always saw himself as a sprinter but I see him as so much more than that. The talent was always there but you need a bit of luck sometimes. I felt sooner or later it was going to work out for him.”
His two Rás stage wins, coupled with 4th and 7th place finishes in 1.1 races as well as the Tour of Britain performances – where he won a stage and was 2nd twice - made potential managers sit up and take note, and Bogaerts knew he wouldn’t be able to hold onto him.
“I was quite sure after a good Tour of Britain that he’d make a step up,” said Bogaerts.
“It was just a matter of finding the right team. With those kind of results you normally move up. There was a lot of interest but it’s also not the best period in cycling and teams were tight and it was late so it didn’t make it any easier.”
“But he got sorted and NetApp-Endura are a good team, a team that is growing. Their programme is good. The last two years they’ve done Grand Tours and also a lot of big races.”
“I think it’s probably a team where Sam will get an opportunity for himself, where he can see how far he can develop. They will definitely play him a few times as designated winner of the day, make him the main man. He will definitely get opportunities to try to win races.”
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Bogaerts even predicted that Bennett could find the step-up “easy” in his new team.
“It’s going to be a big change, because with us you have the programme that’s small and big, but now the programme is all big races, so it’s a step up.”
“But our programme is probably one of the best of all the Continental teams and it’s a smaller step to go to a Pro Conti team. But maybe for a rider like Sam it’s going to be easier because at the end of the day you saw how he scored at the end of the end in a 2.1 race like the Tour of Britain.”
“There’s more control in a 2.1 race and for a sprinter like Sam he’s going to get more opportunities. The opportunities in a Continental team are little because the racing is more aggressive and less controlled, so breakaways work out easier.”
“Now he’s in a situation where you are either a winner or a worker – if it’s for a sprinter, and Sam is in the category of winners, he’ll get more opportunities if he’s the leader of the day.”
“If he’s not the leader, then the situation changes but I think Sam has the capabilities when he’s fit, he could be the leader for the day. I’ve said it many times that you have to use a rider like him as a winner."
"In the first years of An Post I had him working more because I wanted to make him stronger and develop him, but at the end of the day he’s a rider who can win.”
With Bennett leaving, Bogaerts has signed Ryan Mullen and the team has been linked to Connor Dunne.
As regards a possible move for four time Irish National Champion Matt Brammeier – which has been rumoured – Bogaerts feels it’s unlikely.
“Brammeier contacted me one time very, very briefly. Probably for him we will be the last resort, he tries to continue preferably on the ProTour level, but if it doesn’t work out maybe we could be an option for him but that will be very late, a decision like that.”
“Brammeier will wait a long time and hopes to be somewhere else. We can give him the programme but he should find somewhere in a ProTour of Pro Conti team where he could work for a good leader and do his job like that.”
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