ROLL MODEL
Sam Bennett on his emotional ride to Tour success
IT takes very little for indignation to rage through social media and so it was last Thursday night for the slimmed-down version of the RTÉ Sports Awards 2020. Even allowing for yet another outstanding year in Katie Taylor’s extraordinary career, there was understandable online outrage that Sam Bennett did not get the main gong for capturing the green jersey at the Tour de France – and winning the final stage on the ChampsÉlysées while wearing it. But none of that would have come from Carrick-on-Suir, where Bennett and his wife Tara were enjoying a rare break in the house they own on the Waterford/Tipperary border.
‘It’s just nice to be on the short list and mentioned alongside someone like Katie Taylor, given everything that she has achieved and that she has been such an ambassador for Ireland,’ Bennett explained 24 hours before the show went out on air.
The anger of the twitterati might have been better directed at the national broadcaster for using a picture of Bennett’s French team-mate Remi Cavagna rather than the Irish sprinter on the backdrop displaying the short-list. Maybe, after a year when he captured the hearts and minds of both casual and die-hard cycling fans, he’s still not as wellknown as he should be.
None of this will bother Bennett. The 30-year-old takes plenty in his stride as he proved in his battle with Peter Sagan over 21 stages and three weeks in France last September in what was considered one of the toughest races in Tour de
‘THE EMOTION CAME FROM ALL THOSE YEARS OF HARD SLOG’
France history. Good thing, too. His wonderful performance in France ensured he was getting more attention than he is used to. After 12 years of hard slog, with plenty of setbacks along the way, Bennett became an overnight celebrity on this island.
‘I suppose I went relatively unnoticed until the Tour last year and all of a sudden, as the Tour was going on, and the thing was gathering momentum, I could not believe how crippling the sensation of having the expectation of the country behind you would be. I probably lost a bit of sleep over it. That’s why you have to admire the likes of Katie, in that she can go out again and again, with that expectation, and she just continues to perform,’ he says.
‘That was the first time I had experienced that sort of expectation. It was nice to see so many people get behind me in Ireland and people who worked so hard to help me on my journey were highlighted. When you are lost in the moment and trying to achieve what you’re trying to achieve, you forget that sport is entertainment for people, and it can be a release for them too, especially because there were such difficult times last year. It was nice to be able to provide that release.’
On September 8 last, Bennett stepped from the margins of Irish sport into the mainstream when he won his maiden stage in cycling’s greatest race, out-sprinting Sagan and Caleb Ewan into Ile de Ré.
It was his emotionally charged interview immediately afterwards that saw him enter the nation’s heart. Breaking down live on television tends to do that.
Reflecting back, he can’t separate that first stage win and what he did in Champs-Élysées in his own mind. Both will have a special place in his memory for the rest of his life.
‘Both were career-defining moments,’ Bennett says.
‘The first stage win was the breakthrough moment. It was something I had been chasing my whole life, winning a stage on the tour and it had taken so long to get there, so much hard work and plenty of lows. That is where all the emotion came from, it was from the years of slog.
‘The green jersey itself was more of a slow burn, because it was a battle with Peter. There wasn’t a single moment where I thought I had it and that is why it probably didn’t hit me as hard as the stage win.’
However, riding into the ChampsÉlysées wearing green brought back everything he dreamt of as a kid growing up in Carrick-on-Suir.
When he decided to become a professional cyclist, he set himself three pretty high ambitions.
‘When I was growing up, and when I first came into the sport, I had three things that I dreamt of doing above all else, and which I never thought I would be in a position to do, to be honest.
‘I wanted to win Milan-San Remo, win the world championship and win on the Champs-Élysées on the final day of the Tour. And to do that wearing the green jersey, I was only the fifth cyclist to do that – it was pretty special and beyond my wildest dreams.’
Having achieved one of those dreams, his attention now turns to another. Milan-San Remo is one of the signature races in cycling. Almost 300km in length, it is the longest of the one-day classics. And its roll of honour shows the prestige. From Eddy Merckx to Sean Kelly to Mark Cavendish, Bennett’s new team-mate at Deceuninck-Quick-Step, it’s a list he wants to join.
‘Milan-San Remo is one of the monument races in our sport and I have never been able to peak for it,’ he says candidly.
‘It’s the longest one-day race in the sport and some of the biggest names in cycling have won it.
‘For anyone not from a cycling background or the general public in Ireland, it would be hard to explain why the race means so much, and why winning it is my main aim this year, even above trying to win the green jersey again. It is such a monument in our sport that I would love to say I won it just once.’
In other years, Bennett’s season was building towards Grand Tours. However, bolstered by what he achieved last year, he’s able to break 2021 into three parts and the first phase is this spring – starting with the Tour of UAE, followed by ParisNice and ending with Milan-San Remo on March 23.
‘I learned more about myself last season than any other. I know that I’ve just turned 30 and as an athlete, that means you are starting to push on a little, but I think I am still learning,’ explains Bennett, who celebrated that birthday milestone last October.
‘San Remo is an endurance race, the longest race on the calendar. You have to be ready for it, have to have the work done.
‘I have never felt I have gone into it in top condition and 90 per cent is not good enough in that race, because the nerves are high and there are a lot of crashes.
‘A lot happens over 300km. I want to perform in the UAE, and perform in Paris-Nice, because if I don’t, it will be harder to perform at San Remo.
‘I really want to be fighting for the podium and the win in San Remo, it is definitely one that would be nice to strike off the list.’
Even if the Tour of UAE is the less prestigious of his three early races this season, it will still be very competitive.
Most of the top sprinters in the world participate in the race, so outright success offers a chance to lay down a marker among your peers.
‘Obviously, all the history is with San Remo and Paris-Nice, but the Tour of UAE is becoming a very competitive race because almost all of the top sprinters go there, all the guys with egos, so it nearly becomes a mini-Tour de France, sprinters trying to get one up on each other.’
When he joined the famous Wolfpack just over a year ago, I had put it to Bennett that it proved he was one of the best sprinters in the world. He dismissed the notion, saying a stage won on the Tour was needed before you joined that company.
Now, with two stage wins and a green jersey to boot (as well as becoming the first Irish cyclist since Shay Elliott to win on all three Grand Tours), does he now accept he’s one of the top sprinters in the world?
‘There are so many of us on the same level that anyone can beat anyone on a given day,’ Bennett counters. ‘Some sprints suit some of the guys and other finishes might suit other guys. I think I am up there, among the best sprinters in the world, if that doesn’t sound arrogant. But the thing is there are so many guys that you can beat one day, and the same guy can beat you the next day. After the season I’ve had, I obviously have confidence in the sprint and that I am one of the best. But only one of the best.’
Of course, as the man who took the green jersey off Sagan, there will be a target on his back in the peloton this season, although he insists that is not concerning him.
‘I don’t feel under any undue pressure. I will be in a different situation, which will mean I have to take a different approach, but I am a more confident rider because of last
‘AFTER THE YEAR I’VE HAD, I KNOW I’M UP AMONG THE BEST’
‘I WILL BE THE REFERENCE POINT IN RACES – THAT WILL BE NEW TO ME’
season, so that is something I will embrace.
‘I will be the reference point in the sprints more this year, I noticed that a bit on the tour last year, which will be something new. In the past, it was me looking out for other sprinters and staying on their wheel, whereas now that will be me, but it’s something that I am prepared for.’ He returns with his wife to their apartment in Monaco today, after their short break at home. Having only stopped competing last November, and getting a couple of weeks back in Carrick-on-Suir over Christmas to reflect, it has been quite a whirlwind.
But, as always, Bennett says that his wife has kept him centred. She has played a major part in his success.
‘We have been together for 13 years now, so she knows cycling, knows what this sport is all about. And she has definitely been the rock in our relationship, helped through the hard times and low points and she has seen the hard work that has gone into it.
‘She’s given up a lot to support my career too, so she’s definitely a big part of the reason I have got to where I am.’ During those three crazy weeks when Ireland hung on every update from France as to how many points he took in the latest sprint, Bennett’s county of origin became a point of conjecture, with both Waterford and Tipperary claiming him. He’s not keen to join the debate.
‘It’s funny, I have been abroad since I was 18, living on the continent. I’ve never really thought about what county I am representing. I am close enough to three counties here – Waterford, Tipperary and Kilkenny. ‘I just like representing Ireland, of course representing my home and Carrick, too, but I’m out there representing Ireland.
‘That keeps everyone happy.’