Sam Bennett reacts to Caleb Ewan’s retirement and talks about his hunger for Giro glory: “We can’t leave the Giro without winning a stage”

Cycling
Thursday, 08 May 2025 at 21:30
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The Grand Tour season officially begins tomorrow as the Giro d’Italia 2025 gets underway, and for Sam Bennett, the stakes are clear. The Irish sprinter is desperate to return to the top step after a challenging period, and he leads Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale into Italy with a point to prove.
Bennett hasn't won a Grand Tour stage since the 2022 Vuelta a España, and he knows that has to change. Speaking to Cycling News, he made his ambitions clear: "We can't leave the Giro without winning a stage."
Now 34, Bennett remains hungry for success and is heading into the race with a new approach after a change in training methods. "I'm feeling quite okay. I've changed my training quite a bit over the last month or two, so I'm a bit apprehensive, but I should be fine," he said.
“It's nothing major, but we saw that the last three, four years that I've been training to get speed, because we thought that I was missing that in my sprint, but we did more digging, and we saw that it was torque I was missing. So to get that, I've done a lot more shorter rides."
Bennett also spoke about shifting away from the traditional volume-heavy training many sprinters rely on. "I'm used to approaching Grand Tours a little bit differently, maybe a bit more old school, where I want to do more hours on the bike because I kind of think the fundamentals of cycling don't really change. But to be honest, I don't really miss the endurance so much at the minute, I think at my age it's something that's kind of pretty much built in."
His mindset stands in contrast to Caleb Ewan, who earlier this week stunned the cycling world by announcing his retirement from the sport, citing a loss of motivation. But for Bennett, that fire is still burning.
“No, it's still the same. I still have that hunger. I still want it as bad. I mean, I still get that pain in my gut every time I lose a race, so I know the want to still win is there. I still want to win at the WorldTour. I want to win here, now I just have to try and go out and get a few stages."
Ewan’s decision did leave an impression on Bennett, however. "It was a bit of a shock, actually, he was a guy that I was quite close to in the peloton, off the bike as well, and it kind of shocked me that people around me are retiring," he said.
“Because I still feel quite young and feel like I have a good couple of years left in me. But it feels weird, actually. We had some good battles, and during moments in our careers, we pushed each other to our limits and got the best out of ourselves because of it."
As the Giro begins, Bennett is focused on turning effort into results and proving that the adjustments he's made are already paying off. "I mean, it's been a while, and so it would be something that would be quite nice, and would also back up the changes we've made the last couple of weeks and months to show that we are going in the right direction," he said. "But also to just kind of show that I'm still here."
Whilst it has been a while, Bennett is one of the very best sprinters in the world on his day. Remember, the first day of the Giro could end up in a bunch sprint, meaning a sprinter could take the pink jersey. If there’s ever been a moment for Bennett to re-discover his best, it is certainly now.
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