"Win at least one stage and fight for the green" - Sam Bennett on Tour de France ambitions

Sam Bennett's recovery and return to the top of the sprinting world has been one of the most interesting plots of 2022, as the Irishman returns from injury and is showing promising signs alongside BORA - hansgrohe to be fighting for the sprints and the green jersey as the Tour de France.

In an extensive interview with Wielerflits, he has once again looked positive towards his rise of form: “I'm not going to say I'm back in top form. But in general things are going well". The 31-year old has had a complicated start to the season still suffering the lingering effects of last year's knee injury, but has slowly gotten himself back up to a high level which he expects to take onto the Tour later this summer.

Early in the season Bennett struggled immensely with form, up until the Tour of Turkey where he said "it was possible to maintain a constant pace, but that's all". All throughout the opening months of the season he said that "every time I got into the last three hundred meters I had nothing left in the tank. Completely empty, even before the sprint. It was also a puff on every climb. It seemed like I couldn't go into the red and I couldn't tolerate changes of pace". This confirms why he managed to start the season off with some strong results at the UAE Tour but couldn't build on them.

He won the Eschborn-Frankfurt classic in early May which he calls a turning point. He will race the Ronde van Limburg and the Tour of Belgium where he'll be doing his final tests before the Tour de France where he says “the goal is to win at least one stage and fight for the green again," as he did in 2020.

Some say that when sprinters leave Quick-Step they struggle without it's leadout. Back in BORA - hansgrohe, Bennett has teamed up with a new transfer in Danny van Poppel, who was brought in from Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux to be the Irishman's leadout, a partnership that has seemed brilliant until today. He was instrumental in Bennett's win at Frankfurt - getting himself to fifth on the way - but has also managed to perform his new role to perfection on several occasions.

This is very important in the sprinting world, where many times positioning is the difference between winning and not contesting the sprint. “He is super strong, professional and calm. We also live close to each other, so we can often train together. He exudes confidence in positioning and I find that confidence in him too. The more we race together, the better it goes," Bennett says about his Dutch teammate. Together with van Poppel, Bennett is expected to have the support of Shane Archbold and Nils Politt aswell at the Tour. 

And in Belgium he's looking to perfect it. With Ryan Mullen aswell - who is unsure at the lineup in France. "Making the lead out train with the four of us work even better. Everything has to go on autopilot," he said regarding his goal for the coming weeks where he expects to raise his arms once again. "We must learn to read each other's body language, be able to sense what everyone is thinking and communicate well about it. If we learn to grow in that, we can do great things in the Tour.”