Sam Bennett may not have fired on all cylinders since last year's Vuelta, where he took two stage wins, but the Irish rider clearly has no intention of following his longtime team mate, Shane Archbold, into retirement any time soon.
Bennett, who turned 33-years-old yesterday, says he is aiming to continue racing as a pro for many more years to come - perhaps close to the age of 40-years-old - though added his training and racing of late had been interrupted with a prolonged series of illnesses.
The Carrick-on-Suir man's lead-out train is staying at Bora-hansgrohe, but Bennett has now confirmed he is leaving the team. His contract expires at year end after what has been a second, more muted, stint with the German World Tour squad.
Of the three lead-out riders who joined Bora-hansgrohe with Bennett two years ago, Irish TT champion, Ryan Mullen, recently signed a two-year extension and Danny van Poppel signed up for an extra three years. Kiwi Archbold is switching his race numbers for a seat in the team car, as a sports director, following his final race today, at Tour of Guangxi.
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Bennett has paid tribute to Archbold and has said he wants to race as a pro for at least four more years and maybe even six, at the end of which he would be aged 39 years. While he is tipped to ride for French team AG2R La Mondiale for the next two years, he was remaining tight-lipped on exactly where he was going, save to confirm he was leaving Bora-hansgrohe.
While he was happy with his 3rd place on the opening stage of Tour of Guangxi, Bennett faded after that and did not figure in any of the other sprints. He said he did not expect to be in form after his recent issues with illness, going back to mid August.
"I came (to China) with low expectations because I was sick in Hamburg," he said of Bemer Cyclassics (1.UWT) two months ago, which he did not finish. "I wasn't great through Germany (Deutschland Tour, late August). I came out (of that) really tired, went to Tour of Britain, wasn't great there, and came out and got fever for a couple of days.
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"I missed another 10 days of training, but really I was doing so little, because I felt so bad, it was like three weeks off," he said. While "quite happy" with 3rd on the opening stage in China, he added he could feel the race miles in his legs from very early in the six-stage World Tour race.
For Bennett, the race was also an emotional one as it was his last with Archbold. The New Zealander had planned to continue racing at the expiry of his contract this year, but when Bora-hansgrohe offered him a DS job, starting this week, he decided to take it.
Archbold goes back a long way with Bennett, riding two years together at An Post-Sean Kelly before being team mates at Bora-Argon 18, then Bora-hansgrohe when it moved to World Tour level. That was followed by two seasons at Deceuninck-QuickStep and then two more at Bora-hansgrohe.
Bennett said it was "mad" to think Archbold was now at the end of his career and he himself was also nearer to the end than the start of his own stint in the pro peloton.
"I'm hoping I have another 4, 5, 6 years left but it's a shock to the system that it's kinda coming to those stages," he said. Bennett also laughed that Archbold had always "kept me level-headed, he never let my ego get too big, he always put me back in my place".
He said he always had great "banter" with the Kiwi rider and it was a case of "having your buddy on the road" when they were traveling together for racing.
"Shane... when he has his opinion, that's it, and he's not afraid to share it," Bennett smiled. "Sometimes he knows it's better not to say anything than to say something. But I think he's in this long enough so he has a lot of experience to share with guys and I think he'll be very good in that (DS) position."
