By Shane Stokes
Sam Bennett’s season to date has been one hampered by frustration, with just one win to his credit, several close misses and also a period of illness which held him back in a number of events.
However the Bora-hansgrohe team maintains confidence in the rider, saying that his current break in racing will enable him to rebuild and, barring any unexpected setbacks, that it believes he will be at full strength for July.
“The team gave him some more time to prepare himself for the next goals in the best way,” team head of performance Dan Lorang told Stickybottle. “Sam got sick in Paris-Nice and that was not the best for his development. Now his next race will be Frankfurt and from there on hopefully he will be back in top shape.”
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Bennett was victorious on his first day of competition this year, winning the opening leg of the Vuelta a San Juan International. He has since clocked up three second places, two third places and five other top-ten results, with some of those close calls due to being either outmanoeuvred by rivals or being slightly of position when the sprints unfurled.
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He was then a non-starter on stage 7 of Paris-Nice due to a cold, crashed out of Milan-San Remo, and withdrew from both the Classic Brugge-De Panne and Gent-Wevelgem due to the lingering effects of that virus.
Bennett last competed on March 26th. He will be back in action on May 1st in the Eschborn-Frankfurt WorldTour race, which he won last year.
Asked if the team decided to change anything in his training or racing to help him reach top form again, Lorang said that there is an ongoing process of consultation and adjustment with the team’s athletes.
“For sure we always discuss about training and are looking for the details,” he explained. “But he has an experienced coach in Paolo Artuso and we, as a coaching group, exchange ideas and thoughts to help the athletes.”
What’s important is that he fully believes he should be good for his biggest goal of the year. He won two stages plus the green jersey at the Tour in 2021 and Lorang feels he can aim high once again.
“If the time until Frankfurt goes well, we are 100% convinced that Sam is still on track for the Tour,” he said. “Sickness is something what you can’t plan, so you have to react and give your body the time to come back strongly.”
