Sam Bennett has said he was delighted to get back to race-winning form, after his four stage victories and general classification triumph at Four Days of Dunkirk, but he believes he can get even better.
The Irishman, who is in the first year of a two-season deal with Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, is not immediately looking ahead to the next challenges as he hopes to be selected for the Tour de France.
He has not ridden the French Grand Tour since winning the final stage on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris almost four years ago. But judging by his return to winning ways last week, when he collected his first victories for 10 months, his confidence and swagger is back and the biggest race in the world is now firmly in his sights.
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“It’s quite nice after a few difficult years," Bennett said of Four Days of Dunkirk, where he won stages 2, 3, 5 and 6 and narrowly missed out on stage 4 when breakaway man Warre Vangheluwe (Soudal Quick-Step) hung on for victory into Pont-à-Marcq.
Bennett's win on the penultimate stage was perhaps most impressive; attacking on the final climb to win in a manner we saw repeatedly before injury set in during 2021 and he was knocked off his perch as one of the most successful sprinters in the world.
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"I would like to thank the team again for their fantastic work," the Irishman said, paying tribute to the team mates that helped him win four times last week and take the first general classification win of his career. "Now let's focus on the future, my next races could be the Dauphiné or the Tour de Suisse.
"I'm preparing for the Tour de France and I hope to be selected. I need a good hard race for this preparation. The rhythm is back, I'm perhaps lacking a little power in the finale, but it's progressing."
That extra power in the finals will be needed when Bennett steps up in standard in coming weeks, as he will be in races with much bigger sprinting rivals on the start line.
However, he is a rider who has beaten all-comers in the past and having joined his current team over the winter, his first objective had always been to get back to winning ways.
Now that he has done that, his next task is transferring his improved condition, not to mention his heightened confidence levels, into those races where the rewards, and challenges, will be even bigger.
