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The Sam Bennett Discussion Thread

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I'm almost more interested in who QS are going to replace him with? Jakobsen while they transition to a GC team? ;)

that’s an interesting question. There aren’t many top level guys available, so Bennett’s agent may think he actually for once has a chance of forcing Levefere’s wallet open. (I very much doubt he will succeed though).

Gaviria redemption seems like the simplest solution from QS point of view. He’s at a low ebb, so cheap and desperate, but he’s still young.
 
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I suppose Quickstep, if they want to continue the sprint tradition at all like before - it could for instance be they are not planning to bring a sprinter to the Tour in 2022 if they go full Remco and this also plays a role in Bennett's decision making - well, anyway, they will find a sprinter, I'm sure, doesn't even have to be the biggest name. They will need some talent and then they will make him great. For the classics they already have Ballerini.
(I don't want to talk about Hodeg here.)
Out of the Blue: Aniolkowski?
 
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I suppose Quickstep, if they want to continue the sprint tradition at all like before - it could for instance be they are not planning to bring a sprinter to the Tour in 2022 if they go full Remco and this also plays a role in Bennett's decision making - well, anyway, they will find a sprinter, I'm sure, doesn't even have to be the biggest name. They will need some talent and then they will make him great. For the classics they already have Ballerini.
(I don't want to talk about Hodeg here.)
Out of the Blue: Aniolkowski?
I think you could be right. Not the focus on finding a new sprinter (having Ballerini, and maybe Hodeg, Jacobsen and Cav in reserve). But the focus on form a strong team for the Tour 2022.
 
Well after I just said on the Algarve thread that they’d be mad to part ways, this is unexpected news to wake up to.

What’s a likely destination for Sam? We can rule out Ineos, Jumbo, UAE, Movistar (GC ambitions). Lotto, FDJ, Alpecin-Fenix already have their sprinters. If budget is an issue then he’s not going to DSM or EF. Can’t see Astana or BikeX switching to being a sprint team.

Bahrain would have the money, and Landa isn’t getting younger, and they tried with Cav last year. Do they want to switch angle and go for sprints? Or Israel could decide this GC thing is going to take more years to get right, so they’re switching to sprints. Or, wildcard here, Bora could take him back. With Morkov.
 
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Well after I just said on the Algarve thread that they’d be mad to part ways, this is unexpected news to wake up to.

What’s a likely destination for Sam? We can rule out Ineos, Jumbo, UAE, Movistar (GC ambitions). Lotto, FDJ, Alpecin-Fenix already have their sprinters. If budget is an issue then he’s not going to DSM or EF. Can’t see Astana or BikeX switching to being a sprint team.

Bahrain would have the money, and Landa isn’t getting younger, and they tried with Cav last year. Do they want to switch angle and go for sprints? Or Israel could decide this GC thing is going to take more years to get right, so they’re switching to sprints. Or, wildcard here, Bora could take him back. With Morkov.

The speculation in the CN article is Bora. From his point of view, coming back in triumph to a big contract would have an obvious appeal. It makes a lot of sporting sense too. But if Denk is willing to eat crow that publicly, he’s a bigger man than most team bosses...

ISN have oligarch money and no reliable winners.

Cofidis are an ATM on wheels when it comes to sprinters.

Trek have a sprinting set up without a top tier out and out sprinter.

Bahrain have oligarch money and no clear direction as a team.

The rest either seem like they can’t afford to hire riders at the pinnacle of their sub-discipline (EF, DSM, Intermarche, Qhubeka) or would be very left field choices for a top sprinter (Astana, Ag2r, Movistar, Bike exchange)
 
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Bora would make sense; he won there before, and he clearly would have been happy to stay if they could have met his ambitions.

Trek would be an interesting move, though. They have the budget and some strong riders, but not an out-and-out sprinter or a locked-in gc contender.
 
This isn't what you want to see your boss tell the media (especially if its true):
"Sam isn’t the strongest in his own head..."
I wouldn't read too much into it. Bennett is a confidence rider, there's no mystery there. He's a late bloomer, at least partly because he didn't always have the confidence his talent warranted. He's the Un-Cav, in a lot of ways.

Besides which, PL said that in the context of explaining why the team is bringing Sam to the Tour, and not Cav, Jakobsen etc.
 
This isn't what you want to see your boss tell the media (especially if its true):
"Sam isn’t the strongest in his own head..."
Came here for this. Bit of a *** move to put that out here also unncessary. You can easily phrase that far better and it wouldn't be an issue. You don't even have to give a reason like that.

Just say we are confident in Bennett and want to show that or anything like that. You don't throw one of your riders under the bus.
 
Came here for this. Bit of a *** move to put that out here also unncessary. You can easily phrase that far better and it wouldn't be an issue. You don't even have to give a reason like that.

Just say we are confident in Bennett and want to show that or anything like that. You don't throw one of your riders under the bus.
Lefevre so obviously thinks he's the Mourinho of cycling.
 
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His knee is now "pain free," but his fitness isn't there;


Key couple of lines from the article;
He believed if he started the Tour he “probably wouldn’t get through the first week” and he wanted to have a long career so he needed to give himself time to make sure the injury was fully resolved.

Because he had knee problems earlier in his career, he said he knew the difference between pain from a minor knock and pain due to an injury that may persist and do damage. While it initially felt minor, that worsened after a number of days.

He added that having been unable to train hard – and do any rides above three hours – for two weeks his fitness was gone and he simply had to make a decision, which meant missing the Tour.

Sub-3hr rides, below full intensity, is probably not adequate prep for the hardest bike race in the world, I would hazard a guess.
 

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