Bennett in Froome’s shadow

George Bennett would not be at the Giro d’italia if he was Chris Froome.

But he said the Team Sky leader and pre-race favourite has every right to be on the startline in Jerusalem today.

At this stage, the outcome of an investigation into Froome’s adverse analytical finding for the asthma drug salbutamol at last year’s Vuelta a Espana is yet to be determined and the rider, who is aiming to complete a triple crown by adding the Giro to his Vuelta and Tour de France wins from 2017, continues to plead his innocence.

Bennett though is understandably sick of talking about Froome. The Lottonljumbo rider has arrived at the Giro – the biggest race of his eight-year professional cycling career – as a genuine top-10 contender. And that is a rare situation for a rider from New Zealand to be in.

‘‘If I was in his position I wouldn’t be here. I would not do it. But technically he’s within his right. I think that there needs to be a change of rule,’’ Bennett ahead of the opening stage time trial.

‘‘The fact is that this controversy can bring the sport down, can follow the race and take away from the race. There needs to be a rule change so this doesn’t happen again. Also we need some guarantee that it won’t be like Alberto Contador when he started before a verdict had been reached and then they took the Giro away from him after he won.’’

Froome is the favourite alongside defending champion Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb), while recent Tour of the Alps winner Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-fdj), Fabio Aro (UAE Team Emirates) and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) are all capable of wearing the pink jersey into Rome on May 27.

Although he said it was too early to be thinking about winning a race as big as the Giro, Bennett has emerged as top-10 prospect after stringing together a series of career-best results his year. He was 11th at the Tour Down Under, ninth at Tirreno Adriatico, sixth at Volta a Catalunya and fifth at the Tour of the Alps.

‘‘Froome at his best is going to beat me. It’s more the next step down for me. Hopefully at the Tour [de France] next year I can take another step forward.’’

The first three stages are in Israel before crossing to Italy where six ‘‘high difficulty’’ mountain stages await in the three-week epic.

Two other New Zealand riders will play support roles in the race with Sam Bewley helping Michelton-scott’s general classification hopefuls Simon Yates and Esteban Chaves, and Tom Scully assisting EF Education Firstdrapac’s man Michael Woods.