Top Kiwi rider gets backing for world championships
Cycling New Zealand will provide George Bennett with full support for next month’s world championships in Austria.
Despite initial fears from the LottoNL-Jumbo rider that he could be going it alone on a course described as the toughest in the competition’s history, Stuff can confirm New Zealand will have four riders on the start line in the men’s road race.
Bennett will spearhead a strong team which is expected to include Sam Bewley, Patrick Bevin and Dion Smith.
Bevin led BMC Racing to victory in the team time trial at the Tour de France, while Smith became the first New Zealander to wear the famous polka dot jersey.
But Bennett, who has twice achieved top-10 finishes at grand tour level, is the rider Cycling NZ will be pinning their hopes on. He has developed into one of the strongest climbers on the world tour and is the only Kiwi capable of matching Julian Dean’s top-10 finishes from 2002 and 2005. He is also well suited to the extremely difficult course in Innsbruck.
At 265km long and featuring 4670m of elevation, there is a real possibility that fewer than 15 riders will even finish the race. Bennett himself predicted it would be ‘‘last man standing’’, just like it was at the Olympic Games. That is why Jack Bauer made himself unavailable for selection and it is why Cycling NZ toyed with the idea of sending Bennett on his own.
However, Bennett urged Cycling NZ to provide him with full support, telling Stuff that he would not be able to achieve his ambitious goal without the help of team-mates.
‘‘I need team-mates, it doesn’t matter if they finish or not. You need guys who can do the first 150km and keep me out of trouble, otherwise we have the same situation as Rio where you just can’t do anything,’’ Bennett said. ‘‘If they actually believe in me slightly then they need to support me.’’
Bennett tested out sections of the course when he competed at the Tour of the Alps earlier this year. He finished second on that particular stage and said it was beneficial to get an earlier taste.
‘‘It is good to know you’ve had a result on that course,’’ he said.
‘‘Worlds will be quite a different race though, in terms of being so much longer.
‘‘But it was nice to get a gauge on what people are calling a hard climb and a hard course because it’s going to be an absolute killer but one where I think the strongest rider will win. It’s last man standing.’’
Bennett is competing at the Vuelta a Espana, the third grand tour of 2018.