By Shane Stokes
Kurt Bogaerts often comes across as impassive, but his emotions were on full display in September 2013. He was then the general manager of the An Post Sean Kelly team, and was driving the team car at the end of stage 5 of the Tour of Britain.
The race took the riders twice up the steep climb of Caerphilly mountain and when Sam Bennet was announced over race radio as the winner, Bogaerts’ self-composure disintegrated.
“Yeah yeah yeah,” he screamed in an insider video, viewable below. Bogaerts was overcome with emotion, and immediately began crying. That kind of passion is what Bennett needs now, that kind of backing. Fortunately that’s exactly what he will get.
The 35-year-old had a frustrating year with the Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale team but will now move across to the Q36.5 Pro Cycling squad, where Bogaerts is the head coach.
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The duo reunite a dozen years after the pivotal Tour of Britain stage win, a victory which earned Bennett his first pro contract and set him up for a highly successful pro career.
Two important ones | Sam Bennett beating four-time Tour stage winner Jaan Kirsipuu for a stage win at Rás Tailteann into Clara in 2009 and winning a stage of Tour of Britain, at Caerphilly in 2013, which secured his first pro contract
Now, five years after Bennett’s best season, they are vying to recoup past glories.
“He has a very successful career behind him. He won stages in all the Grand Tours, and then in other WorldTour races,” Bogaerts told stickybottle recently, assessing where things are at.
“But the last years were not successful. He wins smaller races still, but I think he’s capable of more. Now it’s up to the rider to show the hunger to continue.
“For me, he shows still a lot of that hunger and doesn’t want to leave the sport in this way. He wants to leave the sport on a high. It’s up to us and himself to make that happen.”
Bennett has had a very successful career, winning 71 races to date. But it’s also been a bit of a rollercoaster. He turned pro with NetApp Endura, which in turn became Bora-Hansgrohe.
While he was crucial to the team’s early success, he ended up being sidelined in some events once it signed Peter Sagan.
He missed Tour selection for several years as a result and while he moved to Deceuninck QuickStep in 2000 and promptly defeated Sagan to win the green jersey—as well as nabbing two stages along the way—he’s only ridden the Tour once since then.
Injury has been an issue, and so too the lack of consistent sprinting victories which would have guaranteed selection.
Something needs to change. The move to Q36.5 Pro Cycling is precisely that.
THE STARS ALIGN FOR A BIG REUNION
Speaking in early September, this writer suggested to Bogaerts that Bennett could be a good signing for the team. That was based on their earlier successful partnership, and in the skill that Bogaerts showed at the time to rebuild Bennett and get the best out of him.
When the thoughts of such a reunion was floated, Bogaerts smiled, sounded interested at the suggestion, but also appeared unsure it could happen.
“At that time it was far off,” he said more recently.
But discussions later happened, an offer was made and the deal was done.
“Sam is a rider who didn’t have a contract. There was interest from both sides of working together again. And then we tried to find a solution to make it happen,” Bogaerts explains.
“Sam knows what we did in the past, and I think he recognized that. And also he can see how the team grows. He could see that it could be possible to get the career back on track.”
At the time the announcement was made Bennett was clear that Bogaerts’ presence on the team was a major factor in his decision.
“My career was launched by Kurt Bogaerts, so it feels as if I’ve taken a winding path home,” the rider said then.
And home is where the magic could happen again. Bogaerts’ empathy and connection was able to turn things around back in 2013, and it could work again now.
He understands what Bennett has been through of late. He also knows what he is capable of when everything goes right.
“Sam had a bad crash in Poland and that, in combination with having no contract for next year…they were not good ingredients for Sam, knowing him for a long time. I think that was a bit unfortunate.
“We looked into him in depth. And we don’t see any issue on a health or medical side that he can’t return to his best level.”
‘I THINK I’M ABLE TO DO THE RIGHT THINGS’
While Bogaerts will be working closely with Tom Pidcock and other riders on the team, his position as team coach and his prior relationship with Bennett means he is likely to have big involvement with him.
What’s crucial for their prospects is that he understands him as an athlete, and also as a person.
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He know what he has been through. He also knows how to get him back in the best mindset.
“I think he needs belief, for sure,” he says, when asked to define the kind of setup Bennett need to thrive. “From a young age, I believed in Sam and his capabilities. I think many riders, they want to feel the belief around them.
“I don’t know how I work with him or how I work with athletes, but definitely I think I’m able to do the right things. That he feels that there is belief in him and from our team in him.
“I think that’s a massive step for every athlete.”
Of course, it’s important to remember that Bennett is now 35 years of age. He was 23 when he and Bogaerts last worked together. Sprinters tend to lose speed as they get older, yet Bogaerts fully believes his new signing is thinking of victories, not retirement, and that he can still succeed.
“We saw in other careers that you can still win after 35,” he insists. “It’s mainly in the head, I think. Physically, if you want to do it, if you want to work hard, if you are aware that the sport is moving on and that you need to be open to potentially do some different type of training, then I think a lot is possible.
“I spoke to Sam several times. You feel hunger and you feel desire to win again. When the hunger is there, when the desire to work is there and when he knows that you need to work harder than ever, then I think it’s possible.
“It’s just about building the right team around him, the right setup where he feels well supported to be able to win again.
“And that’s what I will try to do.”
PLANNING FOR A BIG COMEBACK SEASON
The buildup for 2026 is now well underway. Although delayed in going to the recent team camp due to the timing of his signing, Bennett has had a chance to meet some of his teammates, to get a feel for the new squad, and to plan for next season.
He and the team will be hoping a Tour de France wildcard slot is on the cards. Before then, he’ll want to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.
It will take time for his racing schedule to emerge but there are fundamental steps that he can take at this point in time.
“Let’s try to do the winter good and to get integrated into the team,” Bogaerts says. “We need to build everything gradually step by step. To not make mistakes now in the build-up.
“We need to leave this last season behind and to focus on the basics of the sport.”
In some ways this move thrusts Bennett back into the same scenario as he was in with NetApp Endura. He was trying to prove himself then, just as he will now. And while he’s nearing the end of his pro career rather than starting it, his hunger remains. In fact it’s been sharpened after several frustrating seasons.
“It’s up to Sam to identify his desire and his ambition for the future years,” Bogaerts affirms. “He steps into a team that wants to grow. We want to make steps up to the ladder. He did this already in the past.
“Sam is a winner, and let’s first try to get back to winning. Then we build from there and see what the future brings.”
A PERSONAL TOUCH
Time will tell if Bennett can return to regularly winning WorldTour races. The best scenario is to clock up more wins in the Tour de France, but any big victories will be welcome.
Bogaerts knows that he and Q36.5 Pro Cycling are taking a bit of a gamble with the signing, but he also has faith in Bennett that he, and they, can turn things around again.
“I think the pressure is on me and my team. Sam shows the commitment. Sam shows the hunger. He wants to work and now, yeah, it’s up to myself and the team to give him the right people around him to be able to be to be successful again.
“To make him feels that he’s supported by the best in the sport.”
Bennett’s been vowing a big comeback for several seasons but this feels different.
Bogaerts is good at one on one interactions with riders, giving them the encouragement and guidance that they need.
That was the case back in 2013 and is the case again now.
He also benefits from knowing Bennett for a long time on a human level.
“I cannot deny there is a personal touch here,” he says. “I’m happy we found an agreement. Now it’s back to the basics, do everything right and work hard. To get good communication between each other and the team. Then the rest will follow.”
Looking back at that joyous video from the Tour of Britain, two things stand out. The first is Bogaert’s true passion for the sport. The second is his complete emotional investment in his riders, and his sense of family.
A comment under that video had it exactly right.
“I love this video,” they wrote. “You would always want Kurt in your corner.”
That was true then, and it is true now.
