The Sam Bennett Discussion Thread

[Zinoviev Letter]

It wasn't Lefevre who stopped Bennett from racing. Bennett hasn't been heard from for months now. And not responding mails and letters from his team. And then, suddenly, announcing his participation at the Europeans.... The only reason is that he is afraid of not racing for three months, and not being paid anymore. So, he made a deal with the Irish Cycling Federation.
Too bad that the Irish federation is playing this dirty game.

speaking of fondling pat’s balls…

 

[Biketowork]

It wasn't Lefevre who stopped Bennett from racing. Bennett hasn't been heard from for months now. And not responding mails and letters from his team.

Source?

 

[BlueRoads]

speaking of fondling pat’s balls…

My favourite part is that Lefevere creates such a nice atmosphere in the team.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

This is an increasingly entertaining dispute. Lefevere really doesn’t cope well with not getting everything his own way.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

Source?

I saw someone on another board say this and it's hard to disagree:
There's three sides to this story, Lefevere's, Bennett's and the truth.

 

[yaco]

The more pressing question is whether Bennett will make it past 50kms or 100kms.

 

[Breezy1985]

I saw someone on another board say this and it's hard to disagree:
There's three sides to this story, Lefevere's, Bennett's and the truth.

Regardless about the amount of sides one side is approaching the argument with quite dignity and the other won't shut up about his balls so it's very unfair to frame this as a 50/50 dispute

 

[happytramp]

Who'd have thought it... the easiest way to get under Pat's skin and turn him into an embarrassing mess is just to ignore him.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Read the room Sam. You offended Patrick's balls. He is now up in arms.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

................good luck to bennett in new team...how long will cav be 'flavour of the month?'

Mark L

Fabio will be the number one sprinter next year for Quickstep. If it hadn’t been for that accident he probably would have been this season as well above Sam Bennett.
Cav seized his opportunity brilliantly but he’s not the best sprinter in that team and a return to the Tour is not a given.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

This is an increasingly entertaining dispute. Lefevere really doesn’t cope well with not getting everything his own way.

Not getting everything his own way....? What do you mean ? Is it allowed by your employer to stay away from work for months, allegedly due to injury? Not answering mails and letters ? And then, after months, go work somewhere else. Still being payed by your employer ! In a normal world, he would be fired.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

................good luck to bennett in new team...how long will cav be 'flavour of the month?'

Mark L

Bennet already failed with that "new team". And got another chance at DCQ. And then shamelessly took advantage of it by not riding for months in 2021, but getting paid. With that mentality it will certainly go wrong with his new "old" team

 

[BlueRoads]

Not getting everything his own way....? What do you mean ? Is it allowed by your employer to stay away from work for months, allegedly due to injury? Not answering mails and letters ? And then, after months, go work somewhere else. Still being payed by your employer ! In a normal world, he would be fired.

First thing is Lefevere is not exactly the person you would trust to give an objective account here.
Secondly, even if he was right it would be one thing to call the lawyers and tell them to get to work, it's something else to talk the way he does about Bennett in public.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

First thing is Lefevere is not exactly the person you would trust to give an objective account here.
Secondly, even if he was right it would be one thing to call the lawyers and tell them to get to work, it's something else to talk the way he does about Bennett in public.

Bennett has been given several chances to correct his mistake. Without involving the court. But now Lefevere will be obliged to do so. Bennett has been given every chance to give his version of the facts. But he can't. Because then he has to admit that he made a serious mistake.
And I repeat my question. Can you show this behaviour by your employer, assuming you work ?

Just about all riders in the past and now are quite satisfied with the handling by the team. Now even Cavendish has been given a contract adjustment during the season, although it was not contractually required at all. While everyone both laughed with Cavendish when he still wanted to continue his career end 2020 with a team, just as everyone ruled mockingly when Lefevere gave Calvendish another chance at the end of 2020. What he had done with bennett before, at the end of 2019, when his career was in the doldrums.

 

[BlueRoads]

Bennett has been given several chances to correct his mistake. Without involving the court. But now Lefevere will be obliged to do so.
And I repeat my question. Can you show this behaviour by your employer, assuming you work ?

I don't know what's going on behind the scenes, how bad Bennett's injury was and so on. I assume he could have handled the situation better himself. But that doesn't change that Lefeveres media talk /column is totally below the line.
I am working on my own, so I don't have to deal with someone like PL. But one thing I know from for instance an employer close to me is that there are often employees who try to fool the company, get medical certificates from a friendly doctor which are BS, say they are unable to work and then are seen on holidays on Mallorca and so on... the employer, if he's able to provide proof, can admonish the person, and in repeated cases he can go to court to fire the employee. But he still doesn't have the right to bully him in the media, if he did, he could be drawn to court himself...
These comparisons honestly don't work, because these are people of the public, and also they don't have normal employee-contracts (also, these kind of things are different in each country). But apart from the legal side, there's the human side, and PL shows quite a bad side here.

 

[Red Rick]

I definitely think that the guy who's been slandering his employee for months in the media is in the right here.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

this stuff is like a parody of a certain subset of quickstep obsessed Flemish fans.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

I definitely think that the guy who's been slandering his employee for months in the media is in the right here.

Slander is an expensive thing to prove in the courts. Depends who can afford the better lawyer, Lefevere or the McQuaids. Probably the latter!

 

[Breezy1985]

Bennet already failed with that "new team". And got another chance at DCQ. And then shamelessly took advantage of it by not riding for months in 2021, but getting paid. With that mentality it will certainly go wrong with his new "old" team

He rode so well with Bora that PL was desperate to sign him he wasn't given a "another chance"
That's a crazy rewrite of history on your part

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

He rode so well with Bora that PL was desperate to sign him he wasn't given a "another chance"
That's a crazy rewrite of history on your part

I don't think you follow cycling. Bennett was unhappy with Bora. DCQ gave him in 2020 all the support he needed in several races, and particularly in the Tour de France. But in 2021, the sportlevel of Bennett was very low. As his his mentality is.

 

[RedheadDane]

Bennet already failed with that "new team". And got another chance at DCQ. And then shamelessly took advantage of it by not riding for months in 2021, but getting paid. With that mentality it will certainly go wrong with his new "old" team

Wasn't he injured, though?

 

[happytramp]

I don't think you follow cycling. Bennett was unhappy with Bora. DCQ gave him in 2020 all the support he needed in several races, and particularly in the Tour de France. But in 2021, the sportlevel of Bennett was very low. As his his mentality is.

It's funny reading stuff like this guys posts.... the cycling equivalent of stumbling into a QANON message board... Imagine following the whole story and just selectively ignoring Pat's slandering his rider for months in the media.

 

[Jagartrott]

My favourite part is that Lefevere creates such a nice atmosphere in the team.

It could actually be that Bennett was not well-liked in the team? Lefevere is boorish, but he's not stupid.

 

[happytramp]

It could actually be that Bennett was not well-liked in the team? Lefevere is boorish, but he's not stupid.

Unlikely based on his team mates reactions when he won his first stage in the tour.

 

[BlueRoads]

It could actually be that Bennett was not well-liked in the team? Lefevere is boorish, but he's not stupid.

I have no idea how well liked Bennett is in the team.

But my remark was a totally general one, I think the atmosphere in the team is extremely competitive and although there are certainly a few friendships I don't think it's a team which really stands out in terms of "the atmosphere in the team is so nice". What was that about the peeing on the clothes of team-members?
Usually everyone knows that they will have to work for team-mates and that they will get their own chances and support in return, that's why the team usually works - the Evenepoel - Almeida case is not really typical for them. It's a "do as I please, give your all and bring results for the team, otherwise you're out"-leadership, which you can respect, but it's not like they are all dancing around merrily together in the meadows.