It’s all uphill for Bennett
George Bennett’s frustrating descent could continue, with the Kiwi cyclist in doubt to participate at the world road cycling championships later this month.
Bennett pulled out of the Vuelta a Espana this week due to lingering fatigue from the Tour de France, which he also had to abandon after picking up glandular fever just when he looked primed to finish in the top 10.
At the Vuelta, Bennett couldn’t stick with the leaders, or indeed the peloton, with the usually combative climber regularly accompanying the sprinters in the last group to cross the line.
Sitting in 157th and showing no signs of improvement, Bennett and his LottoNL-Jumbo team decided to pull the pin.
“It was pretty clear that I wasn’t getting any better, and now I’m on a plane home,” said Bennett.
“If I never had the glandular fever, this could be something I could just troop on through and just accept you’re going to be terrible for three weeks, but just ride it out.
“I was too motivated I think, I tried to come back too early and had a couple of bouts with tonsillitis and antibiotics.
“We hoped that I’d ride into the Vuelta and I never did, it just kept getting worse and was a shadow of the form I’ve had for the rest of the year.”
Now Bennett has to decide whether he’ll be able to compete at the world championships in Norway, where he was set to tackle the time trial.
The time trial would suit Bennett, with a 3.4 kilometre climb at the finish giving an edge to climbers compared with the usual flat-terrain preferred by some of the world’s best time trialists.
Bennett isn’t ready to finish his season now, but he is realistic that he faces an uphill battle to get back to racing condition.
“It’s back to the drawing board essentially, obviously when something like this happens there’s a lot of commotion around it with the trainers and directors.
“It could still be on the cards, but we need to sit down and be realistic about it and maybe make some further tough decisions.”
If Bennett can’t go, it would leave Hamish Bond as New Zealand’s leading representative in the time trial, with the team’s designated reserve, Patrick Bevin, likely to focus solely on the road race.