Sam Bennett rues current lack of form: "I’ll get there but I just need more time"

Despite a decent return to racing at the UAE Tour where he featured in the podium on two stages, BORA - hansgrohe's Sam Bennett has been unable to repeat those results at Paris-Nice and quotes a relative lack of form for it.

“I just don’t have it. I’m a month or two behind where I need to be. Yesterday [stage two] I was in the group for the sprint but I couldn’t even get up near the guys when we came out of the corner with 400 meters to go. I got out of the saddle and went slower. I’ll get there but I just need more time.” On the second stage of Paris-Nice Bennett made the decisive echelons with team leader Aleksandr Vlasov and Ryan Mullen. He was in a good position to go fight for the stage win - which was taken by Fabio Jakobsen - but finished only 33rd in the back of the reduced peloton.

He adds: “I’d say it’s possible for me to win bunch sprints now if everything goes right, but in Paris-Nice it doesn’t really happen like that. If you had a slower day and just a fast final with no real points where you need to use a lot of power, then you can find a way. But there’s just no hiding if not. Yesterday I struggled even to ride with the guys in the echelons. So in Paris-Nice it’s not possible, but maybe in another race, it’s possible. But I know myself I’m a month or two behind.”

“Everything’s going great with the lead-outs, I’m the weak link in the chain just now. In the UAE Tour, they got me to 200 meters four times out of four. But there were two sprints where I couldn’t even think straight. It was me that was the issue, but I have to be happy with the job they did for me," he concluded.

Bennett is likely to stay at Paris-Nice to try and build some form for the spring. He's scheduled to ride Milano-Sanremo although with the current form it'll be hard to be within the fight for the win. At the Brugge-De Panne - which he won last season -, Dwars door Vlaanderen and Scheldprisj, the Irish sprinter will hope for some better form.