He won two stages plus the green jersey the last time he took part, but Sam Bennett’s ambition of adding to his Tour de France success will have to wait until next season. The 32-year-old has, for the second year running, been left out of the Bora-hansgrohe selection for the race.
Instead, the team will back the Belgian sprinter Jordi Meeus. The main thrust of its Tour campaign will be to try to secure a top three overall with the Australian all-rounder Jai Hindley.
Bennett’s big Tour success came in the 2020 edition. He missed the following year’s event due to a knee injury, and the lingering effects of that meant that he was not at his best prior to last year’s Tour. He was left out of the team selection for that event but rode the Vuelta a España, taking two stage wins there and looking like a big contender for the points classification.
However he caught Covid and had to leave the race. Bennett ended the season well with an impressive performance in Paris-Tours, and started things on a high note this year when he won his very first race, stage one of the Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina in January.
In the months since he clocked up four second places and two third places, as well as three other top 10 finishes.
Earlier this month he was second across the line on stage three of the Criterium du Dauphiné, but was later relegated due to drifting to the right in the sprint, something which appeared to impede others.
The race was not suited to sprinters, limiting other opportunities. While Bennett has not had the same win tally this season as in other years, he said that he believed he was on course to reach the Tour in strong form.
At the time Bora-hansgrohe’s Head of Performance Dan Lorang said that the Carrick-on-Suir rider looked set for that race.
“All is fine with Sam. When Sam stays healthy and will not have a big crack [drop in form] in the Dauphiné, he will be part of the Tour team,” he said on June 7th.
Unfortunately, the team management have now decided otherwise. “Like every year, decisions about the Tour de France line-up is a really tough one,” a team spokesperson told The Irish Times on Thursday. “We have published [the names of] seven riders, the eighth will be decided on the weekend ... but Sam will not ride.”
Bennett’s absence means that leadout man Ryan Mullen will also not take part in the Tour. With Eddie Dunbar and Ben Healy recovering from very strong performances in the Giro d’Italia, it appears that there will be no Irish competitors in cycling’s biggest event.
