"It would be great to wear the pink jersey" - Sam Bennett backs himself to survive tough opening stage of 2025 Giro d'Italia

A three-time Giro d'Italia stage winner, Sam Bennett returns to the Italian Grand Tour with a bit of a point to prove in 2025. Now in his second season with the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, the Irish sprinter will be looking to prove he still has what it takes to win Grand Tour sprints.

"I feel good. I changed my training method in the last two months, so I'm still a bit uncertain going into this Giro. I trust the process, but I still have a bit of fear of the unknown. I'm used to approaching grand tours differently," Bennett tells IDL Pro Cycling ahead of the upcoming Giro d'Italia. "They're not huge changes, but we saw that I've been training mainly for speed over the last three to four years. When we dug deeper, we saw it's also about power. So I've been doing some shorter training sessions, whereas I'm more old school and like to spend more hours on the bike."

There's definitely been positives of late too. In 2025 already, the 34-year-old has added four wins to his palmares. "Honestly, I haven't missed the endurance, and so far, it's gone really well. I've achieved good results and was also very happy when I saw my watts after my victory in the Loire,” he explains. ”We rode some very good sprints there, and I also won a tough stage that finished uphill. That was very good for my confidence, and I hope it can be confirmed with a stage win in the Giro."

With a Maglia Rosa up for grabs on stage 1, all eyes will be on whether or not Bennett can survive the day's climbs to keep himself in touch ahead of that fight for the stage win and the race lead. "I think I should be able to survive the climbs in the first stage. Of course, it depends on how the race unfolds, but it should be possible," previews the Irishman. "Due to traffic, we can't do any recon, so I don't have that point of reference. It would be great to wear the pink jersey, which is a highlight in my career, but it will be a tough task. We're making it a goal, but stage four is the first real sprint."

"I have a really good team around me, so I hope to be in contention," he continues. "Stan Dewulf, Dries De Bondt, and Tord Gudmestad are the guys who will support me, while Andrea Vendrame and Dorian Godon will be used earlier in the stages that end with a smaller group."

"The first stage is indeed very interesting. I think the GC teams will take a defensive approach. We are starting a three-week race, so it would be quite ambitious to reveal your tactics immediately. I think many teams will want to make it a sprint," adds Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team's DS Luke Roberts. "All in all, I expect some activity, but with a fresh peloton, I think a fairly large group could remain at the finish."

In terms of by the time the race reaches Rome though, the Maglia Ciclamino is a more realistic goal for Bennett, himself a former Green Jersey winner at the Tour de France. "As far as the points jersey is concerned, it's important to see how the first week goes. There may be sprints where Mads Pedersen and Wout van Aert are in contention, but I'm not," he previews. "You collect points but don't waste all your energy on them. You can always use more energy for those intermediate sprints if they are within reach. The main goal is to win a stage, that's clear. Although the points jersey is always in the back of your mind, of course."