Bennett happy to play supporting role
Top Kiwi cyclist George Bennett is set to undertake a selfless support role at this year’s Tour de France.
Although he was hoping to have a leadership role for the sport’s most famous race, which gets under way in Brussels on Sunday, that responsibility has instead fallen on experienced Dutch rider Steven Kruijswijk, who was one of two Jumbo-Visma riders to crack the top-five last year.
Success for Bennett will be defined by Kruijswijk’s final result, with a podium finish a realistic target for rapidlyimproving Jumbo-Visma in the absence of traditional favourites Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin.
‘‘It is a little different for sure. Physically I feel really good, probably better than I have felt going into other tours, but it is all for Stevie. We got all the guys together last week in the mountains, well the climbers at least, and we sat down and talked about how that was going to play out and how we were going to do it,’’ Bennett said.
‘‘For me it’s very much about leaving any sort of personal ambition at home and committing to helping to make sure Stevie is always there. In the first week if I’m stronger than him in the mountains, that just means I’m waiting for him if he drops or anything like that.
‘‘On the flat stages, if Stevie crashes or anything like that, then he takes my bike, my wheel, and I stand on the side of the road and wait for the team car. I’m basically there as moving spare parts.
‘‘But if he doesn’t have anything broken then I’m there to ride him back to the peloton and try guide him through the craziness of the peloton, ride in the wind and that sort of thing. Then, in the mountain stages, it’s to be there with him right to the line.’’
While Bennett was originally hoping 2019 would be the year he was given a licence to have a genuine shot at the Tour de France, having achieved two top10 finishes at previous grand tours, the 29-year-old said he understood Jumbo-Visma’s decision to back the more experienced Kruijswijk given his performance last year and he remained hopeful that his time will come.
‘‘The team management know the numbers I’m pushing in training at the moment, they know the shape I’m in and they know it’s a big deal not to ride for your own result. That doesn’t get forgotten,’’ he said.
‘‘When another opportunity arises I’ll get full support of the team again so you’ve just got to remind yourself that it comes back around and you try and make yourself part of something bigger.’’
But despite the demotion to a support role, Bennett said he was still buzzing at the prospect of contesting his third Tour de France — ‘‘the one race people in New Zealand know’’ — after missing last year’s event to focus on the other two grand tours; the Vuelta and the Giro d’Italia.
‘‘I definitely plan on enjoying it and I’m definitely looking forward to it. I enjoy the challenge of riding for a result, that’s probably what I enjoy most, but there’s no reason why it can’t be a really enjoyable thing.
‘‘I’m hoping I will just try and enjoy every day, enjoy being in France and enjoy the atmosphere as opposed to seeing it as a challenge, because that it is what it can be when you’re riding for a result there, when you’re dealing with the whole grandiose of the Tour de France is one of the major challenges.’’
As for the team to beat, Bennett said Team Ineos were still the hot pre-race favourites, even without Froome, who fractured a femur in a horror crash last month, with defending champion Geraint Thomas and exciting young Colombian star Egan Bernal providing them with two genuine yellow jersey contenders.
‘‘They have still got two really good options. They have probably still got the No 1 and No 2 favourite with Bernal and Thomas. It probably doesn’t change much. They are still going to ride the same way they always have.’’
‘‘If Stevie [Kruijswijk] crashes or anything like that, then he takes my bike, my wheel, and I stand on the side of the road and wait for the team car. I’m basically there as moving spare parts.’’
George Bennett