The end of Sam Bennett’s two-year contract with Deceuninck-QuickStep has come into focus since team boss Patrick Lefevere said last month the Irishman was leaving the team at the end of the season.
That’s something the team repeated when
contacted by stickybottle. So any hopes that Lefevere had spoken prematurely
appear to be dead, according to Deceuninck-QuickStep itself.
In recent weeks Bennett has been linked with a move back
to Bora-hansgrohe, while going to Ineos-Grenadiers has also been mooted. Both
of those options would go down like a lead balloon with many Irish cycling
fans.
But how would either team pan out for the 30-year-old Carrick-on-Suir man who could still have five years left at the top of cycling?
Ineos Grenadiers
Most teams would put significant lead-out resources in place for Sam Bennett if they signed him. But the likelihood of that happening at Ineos Grenadiers, especially at the Tour de France, is lower.
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Italian sprinter Elia Viviani rode for the British WorldTour outfit for three years – from 2015 to 2017 when it was Team Sky. He won 20 races during that period. That was broadly in line with his strike rate in the three years previous.
Viviani’s wins as a Team Sky rider included a stage in
the Giro, which was the only Grand Tour he rode for Sky. It meant he was quite
successful as a Sky sprinter, just not at the Grand Tours.
Mark Cavendish joined the team, then Sky Pro Cycling, in
2012 – by which time he had won 20 Tour de France stages and was reigning world
champion. He won 15 races during the 2012 season, including three Giro stages
and another three at the Tour.
He signed for Sky for three years but left after just one, making it clear during that first season the team’s GC ambitions did not gel with his stage win plans. However, he left for Omega Pharma-QuickStep and "only" won three Tour stages with it over the following three seasons.
Since Cavendish said the team's GC outlook was incompatible with his sprinting ambitions, the team’s general classification set-up and goals have become even bigger and stronger.
Ineos Grenadiers is clearly aiming to win the overall in all three Grand Tours in the same year. And that ambition is unlikely to change any time soon, meaning its selections for all Grand Tours will be based around GC.
The team could, and would, still pick Bennett for some Grand Tours and it could also offer him some support, as it did with Cavendish; positioning him near the front and then leaving him much to his own devices in the sprints.
Surfing the wheels and largely looking after himself would be a different experience for Bennett compared to the past two seasons. It would be much harder than having Michael Mørkøv as such an expert pilot. But it’s something Bennett has done before.
And the Irishman is losing Mørkøv no matter where he goes as the Dane is definitely staying at Deceuninck-QuickStep. Furthermore, Bennett was winning races – including Grand Tour stages – long before he teamed up with Mørkøv.
The big danger for Bennett with a move to Ineos Grenadiers would be not getting picked for the Tour de France - maybe not next year, but at some point. However, that’s not a problem unique to the British WorldTour team.
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Groupama-FDJ left Arnaud Demare at home last year to focus on Thibaut Pinot's GC ride at the Tour, despite Demare being in the form of his life. And Dylan Groenewegen never featured in Jumbo-Visma’s plans for the Tour last year as it was focusing on winning the race with Primoz Roglic.
Bennett could win the green jersey at the Tour again this year, and take another couple of stages. If he does, and if the money from Ineos Grenadiers was too good to turn down, maybe Bennett could live with less support on the Tour de France next year and beyond – or even missing the race at some point?
The reality is that no matter where he goes, the lead-out
is not going to be as good as it was this year because he won’t be with Mørkøv.
So comprise is a certainty.
Aside the Grand Tours, Ineos Grenadiers has the makings of a very good spring classics team, with riders like Tom Pidcock, Filippo Ganna and Ethan Hayter now on the books and developing rapidly. That is something that could be quite attractive to Bennett.
Bora-hansgrohe
Sam Bennett rode for the team, in its various guises, for six years. During that period he became the rider he is today. He departed at the end of the 2019 season and joined his current employers, Deceuninck-QuickStep, on a two-year deal.
A move back to Bora-hansgrohe would, on the face of it, be a much better decision in competitive terms than going to Ineos Grenadiers.
At the German team, Bennett would be the undisputed
leader. Peter Sagan looks set to leave; Total Direct Energie the latest team he
has been linked with. And Pascal Ackermann also appears to be on the way out of
Bora, and possibly bound for UAE Team Emirates.
That means Sagan’s group of riders and staff will also
leave, giving the team a new complexion and making it ripe for a new leader in
the shape of Sam Bennett.
That status as leader would secure lead-out support for Bennett and his pick of races, including the Tour de France. Even if the team had GC aspirations at the Tour, and other Grand Tours, its selections would also be shaped around supporting a sprinter.
The support at Bora-hansgrohe would include domestiques to close down breakaways, a train and a final lead-out man. Indeed, Bennett could probably bring in some riders of his choosing.
Furthermore, while Ineos Grenadiers is the richest team
in the sport, Bora-hansgrohe also has deep pockets. It could go toe-to-toe
financially with Ineos Grenadiers – maybe even outbid them - in order to secure
Bennett’s signature.
However, there are a couple of flies in the ointment. When Bennett was with Bora-hansgrohe before he wasn’t picked for the Tour de France or the Giro (in 2019). Ackermann and Sagan were ahead of him in the pecking order despite Bennett being faster than both.
And when Bennett wanted to leave at the end of 2019, the team tried to force him to stay by claiming he had made a verbal agreement to do one more year. In the end Bennett left, but the saga was protracted and messy.
Nothing crazy was said in public by the team, or by Bennett, that burnt any bridges. Indeed, Bennett remained very professional in his public remarks. The only question is whether relations between Bennett and the team – especially general manager Ralph Denk – are damaged beyond repair.
If the personal relationships could be re-floated, a
reunion between Bennett and Bora-hansgrohe – with Sagan and Ackermann both
cleared out of the Irishman’s path – could work out very nicely for all.
The team’s other riders would probably welcome it as they have been forced many times to shred Grand Tours hour after hour on lumpy stages to increase Sagan’s chances of a stage win. That kind of workload would not be required to create chances for Bennett, who is now faster and more versatile than Sagan.
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