GEORGE BENNETT

JUMBO VISMA

We’ll see bit less of George Bennett than we did last year. His 2018 was strung between the Giro and the Vuelta, and around those the New Zealander raced the TDU, Tirreno, Catalunya, the Tour of the Alps and Pologne. Apart from 11th Down Under and the Vuelta, where his GC ambitions collapsed on stages 13 and 14, he finished in the top 10 on the overall at each race. It was the best season of his seven-year pro career, which has advanced with increasingly surefooted steps.

But if he races less, he hopes to shine more brightly. In that long string of racing – 80 days once the one-day races were factored in – he perceived a pattern. The races he felt best in preceded his bigger goals: Tirreno and the Tour of the Alps before the Giro; Poland before the Vuelta. He felt fresher and noticed a drop-off in the bigger objectives. This year, Bennett aims to capitalise on that pattern. “There’ll be less racing to train and each race will be a goal race,” he told Procycling. Bennett agreed that the new strategy, devised with Jumbo-Visma’s head coach Mathieu Heijboer, needs extra discipline. There will be less time spent at races and more time working under his own steam. Bennett said that won’t be a problem, because he enjoys the process of training. Evidently the team is happy to let him get on with it. Plus, he admitted in his typically forthright way, that a slight weariness descends after long periods spent in the race bubble.

He’s a popular figure in the team and has made concerted efforts to learn Dutch. Procycling first met him on a 2017 Tour rest day, after he’d spent a tiring couple of hours indulging Dutch broadcasters’ wishes for a few lines in their native tongue. Despite this, he’s still a laid-back character from the land of the long white cloud on a well-drilled north European squad.

Last year, the Dutch team had its best season in years. Steven Kruijswijk and in particular Primo Roglic collected results that made them bona fide grand tour contenders. Bennett’s eighth at the Giro contributed to the gilded season but it was shaded by his team-mates’ higher GC placings. Those results, and Roglic’s success on week-long races have dictated a revision of the Jumbo pecking order, and Bennett knows his presence at the Tour this year will be in support of Kruijswijk. The 28-year-old Bennett is philosophical about the new order. “Those guys deserve the leadership. It’s something that has to be earned,” he said. Bennett will train in the southern hemisphere before returning to competition at Paris-Nice in March. While he’s home, specialists will look at an issue that has stumped doctors the world over: the root cause of a persistent and insidious sidestitch. Bennett has said that he can look at a race profile and know the point it will begin. Whether it’s a nerve, muscle, or postural issue, he’s investigated them all.

Last year, doctors had some success resolving the issue with surgery. Alas the pain returned in March. “Fixing that stitch is the one thing that would make a huge difference,” he said

Bennett will race the TDU, but says the race doesn’t suit his strengths: it’s a race that rewards raw power, whereas he thrives in the rarefied air of the mountains. His first real rendezous therefore will be Paris-Nice where the mountain stages and TT will be his first key tests. After that, Basque Country and California, which he won in 2017, will be his targets.

“Apart from Down Under, where he was 11th and the Vuelta, where his GC ambitions collapsed over stages 13 and 14, he inished in the top 10 on GC at each race”

George, pictured here in the Vuelta, is at his best in the high mountains