"I did it before and there's no reason why I can't do it again" - Sam Bennett eager to take green jersey at 2023 Tour de France

Sam Bennett has had a complicated 2022 season, however he looks back to form and is motivated to prove himself this coming year alongside BORA - hansgrohe who have put in a significant amount of resources to assist him.

"I think it's possible. I did it before and there's no reason why I can't do it again," he said in a press conference at the ongoing training camp. "Everything seems to be coming back into place. I think I struggled getting some of my peak power this season, but it seems to just come when I build up my engine and do bigger endurance rides and train more like a Classics rider.

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Bennett suffered from his lingering knee injury at the start of 2022, and was unable to get good form throughout most of the year. This has seen him fail to take wins at most of his goals and miss the selection for the Tour de France.

He suspects that may have been due to the training methods, in which some changes have seen him note meaningful difference: "It's weird, when I don't do specific sprint work and I just do normal training and get fit the power comes. I don't know why that is. When it was sprint work it just kind of stayed the same."

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Likely however, that change is what saw him pop out two wins at the Vuelta a Espana (before he abandoned with Covid-19), however perhaps more meaningfully, finish third after an attacking performance at Paris-Tours, his best display of form in the year, on his very last race day. He's talked about being back to his normal level and having the motivation towards 2023.

And his choice of calendar seems pretty clear already at this point: "It's normally pretty similar to what I normally do like. I start in Argentina (Vuelta a San Juan, ed.), then UAE [Tour], Paris-Nice, and then the Classics that I can get up in like Milano-Sanremo, De Panne, Gent-Wevelgem." With the support of his extensive leadout and judging by past performances, the Irishman will be a contender to win multiple times throughout the first months of the season. However, it is at the Tour de France that he aims the highest.

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"I think it's possible. There are eight sprints. Out of a possible eight sprints some might be hillier towards the end and trying to get there it's going to be hard, but I think I have to believe it as well," Bennett said, admitting that he wants to conquer a second green jersey. "I wouldn't be the rider I am today if I didn't believe that I was able to do it. And it's not like I'm going into unknown territory where I didn't do it before I've done it. So why not?"

In 2020, Bennett was the first rider ever to top Peter Sagan in the points classification at the Tour de France. This was the fruit of two stage wins, great form which saw him consistently battling in the intermediate sprint points, and a past-the-prime Sagan who at the time led BORA, who now aims at the very same jersey.

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"I think some of the main targets then will be Tour de France again. I'd like to do two Grand Tours back-to-back to rebuild the engine again," he continued, hinting at a possible return to the Vuelta a Espana following the Grand Boucle. "But maybe ask me that on the second rest day in the Tour I might have a different answer."

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