By Shane Stokes
Having missed the race in 2021 and 2022 due to illness and team selection decisions respectively, Sam Bennett is aiming for a return to the Tour de France in 2023. The Irishman was absent from Thursday’s route presentation in the Palais des Congrès in Paris, undergoing instead a routine checkup, but was encouraged by the information relayed to him by his team.
“I was getting physio to make sure my muscles are all loose before I start training again next week,” Bennett told Stickybottle, explaining that he hadn’t watched the presentation. “But I got messages from Danny (Van Poppel) and some of the DS’s that there seems to be eight sprints. It makes you motivated to get back on the bike.”
Bennett has not competed at the race since 2020, the year when he won two stages and the green jersey. His career was gathering momentum then and he had a superb start to the 2021 season, dominating the sprinting scene. However he suffered a training injury when hit his knee off his handlebars.
Advertisement
The injury saw him miss months of racing and he spent much of this season trying to return to his previous level. He duly did so in the Vuelta a España, winning two stages and looking like a big contender for the green jersey until he contracted Covid-19.
Bennett is keen to go back to the Tour, although he will not presume anything after his Bora-hansgrohe team decided to base its team selection for the 2022 event around a general classification bid for Aleksandr Vlasov, leaving both he and leadout man Ryan Mullen at home.
Still, if Bennett is back to top form, it’s very hard to see the team not taking him to cycling’s biggest race.
“Hopefully I make my return after…it’s going to be three years, actually,” he said. “So that (race) would be my target. I don’t know if that’s what the team wants next season, but hopefully our ambitions line up.
“Eight stages create a lot of opportunities. That means also that that should make the fight for a green jersey more suited to a sprinter.
“It (the green jersey – ed) will still be something that would be very difficult to get but it will be class to get back to the Tour de France and to win at the highest level again. So that would be the aim.”
SPRINT-RICH ROUTE
Related News
The 110th Tour de France will feature plenty of climbing, but it also offers a lot for the sprinters. Initial feedback from riders such as Mark Cavendish on Thursday saw them declaring that seven or eight stages could come down to bunch gallops.
The event will begin on July 1st in the Spanish Basque Country, with the opening stage beginning and ending in Bilbao. That hilly leg will be followed by a similarly-demanding race to San Sebastian the following day.
The focus will turn to the sprinters on stages three and four, with the finishes in Bayonne and Nogaro likely to play out in that way. Bennett will look to strike early, with other chances following on stage 7 to Bordeaux, stage 8 to Limoges and stage 11 to Moulins.
Later in the race, the hilly stage 18 to Bourg-en-Bresse and the following day’s race to Poligny are also tipped as sprint possibilities, with the big finale happening on the Champs Élysees in Paris on stage 21. Bennett won the final stage there in 2020 and will hope to be back in triumphant form again.
He will be up against the top sprinting names in the sport, including his former teammate Cavendish. The Briton is yet to reveal his new team but, with 34 victories, he is level on Tour stages with the legendary Eddy Merckx and is set for the all time record if he can add one more.
Of course the general classification battle will be crucially important and a hilly route with just one 22 kilometre time trial will be welcomed by the strong climbers.
Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) did not attend the route launch in Paris but the 2020 and 2021 winner Tadej Pogačar was present and gave a thumbs up to what he saw.
“I really like the route,” the Slovenian said. “It’s going to be a hard race right from the start with a tough first week in the Basque Country. It has a lot of climbing which I like, particularly the first and third week.
“It’s still a long while away but I’m sure it will be another great Tour and I’m excited for next July.”
So too is Bennett, who will return to training next week with his own Tour goals in mind.
Tour de France (July 1-23)
- Stage 1, July 1: Bilbao – Bilbao, Spain, 182km (hilly)
- Stage 2, July 2: Vitoria-Gasteiz – San Sebastian, Spain, 209km (hilly)
- Stage 3, July 3: Amorebieta-Etxano (Spain) – Bayonne, France, 185km (flat)
- Stage 4, July 4: Dax – Nogaro, 182km (flat)
- Stage 5, July 5: Pau – Laruns, 165 km (mountain)
- Stage 6, July 6: Tarbes – Cauterets Cambasque, 145km (mountain)
- Stage 7, July 7: Mont-de-Marsan – Bordeaux, 170km (flat)
- Stage 8, July 8: Libourne – Limoges, 201km (hilly)
- Stage 9, July 9: Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat- Puy de Dôme, 184km (mountain)
- Rest day 1, July 10: Clermont-Ferrand
- Stage 10, July 11: Vulcania (St-Ours-les-Roches) – Issoirem 167km (hilly)
- Stage 11, July 12: Clermont-Ferrand – Moulins, 180km (flat)
- Stage 12, July 13: Roanne – Chiroubles ou Belleville-en-Beaujolais, 169km (hilly)
- Stage 13, July 14: Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne – Grand Colombier, 138km (mountain)
- Stage 14, July 15: Annemasse – Morzine, 152km (mountain)
- Stage 15, July 16: Les Gets – St-Gervais Mont-Blanc, 180km (mountain)
- Rest day 2, July 17: St-Gervais Mont-Blanc
- Stage 16, July 18: Passy – Combloux, 22km (time trial)
- Stage 17, July 19: St-Gervais Mont-Blanc – Courchevel, 166km (mountain)
- Stage 18, July 20: Moûtiers – Bourg-en-Bresse, 186km (hilly)
- Stage 19, July 21: Moirans-en-Montagne – Poligny, 173km (flat)
- Stage 20, July 22: Belfort – Le Markstein, 133km (mountain)
- Stage 21, July 23: St-Ouentin-en-Yvelines – Paris Champs-Élysées, 115km (flat)
Total: 3404 km
