Sam Bennett is set to resume racing very shortly but, given how his plans now look, starting the Vuelta as his sole Grand Tour of the year now looks unlikely (Photo: Luis Angel Gomez-Cor Vos)
By Shane Stokes
It’s been a season to forget thus far for Sam Bennett, but the Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling rider has a chance to turn things around with several days of racing this month.
However it appears he will not be lining out in the Vuelta a España, meaning he will miss all three grand tours this year.
Bennett’s team has told stickybottle that the Carrick-on-Suir rider will be in action soon in two WorldTour races. First up is the ADAC Cyclassics race, which will be held in Germany next Sunday August 16th.
Bennett’s best performance in the race was 11th place back in 2018, when it was known as Cyclassics Hamburg.
On August 19th he will then start the Renewi Tour in Belgium. He has a better history in this race, winning the first three stages in 2019 and netting second on stage 5. This secured him the points classification.
More recently he competed there in 2024, taking 14th on stage 1 before withdrawing on stage 4. This year’s race includes five stages, starting in Diest and ending in Leuven on August 23.
Bennett is under pressure to deliver results, having had a very tough season thus far this year. His best result is third on a stage of the Région Pays de la Loire Tour in April, with 27th one day beforehand his sole other finish towards the front of the peloton.
He went into the season saying he was determined to make up for a quiet 2025, particularly as he had been left for a long time without a contract for this year.
In January Pinarello Q36.45 Procycling announced a one year deal with Bennett. Speaking to Stickybottle, he revealed he had heart ablation surgery last Autumn to correct arrythmia, an irregular heart rhythm.
He said that it was possible the issue was holding him back in recent years.
“I discussed it with the specialist and I gave him feedback of what I felt the last two, three seasons,” he said then. “Especially going into sprints. And it’s not a given, but it’s possible that I was having mini episodes.
“Because I always felt something in the sprints. I couldn’t push. I would go into the sprint, and I’d be fine, and I’d go to get off the saddle. I wouldn’t be full of lactate, but I just had to sit back down. It was just super strange.”
He said he hoped to get back to a high level but things haven’t clicked thus far.
Aside from that third place in the Région Pays de la Loire, he has not shown anything like his previous level. He has been in a DNF in 12 out of the 24 days he has competed in this year, including on stage 3 of the Baloise Belgium Tour.
That was on June 19th, the last time he raced.
Neither Bennett nor his team have commented thus far on the reasons for his difficult season. It is unclear, for example, if he has had any health or injury issues which have held him back.
He will hope for a much better showing this month, and for the remainder of the year.
When Bennett announced his contract he said that getting back to a decent standard was very important for him.
“I just want to hit my best level again,” he told stickybottle in January. “I want to be in the races competing. I don’t want to be making up numbers, getting killed in every race. I want to be at my best level.
“Then if I reach that, if I hit certain targets, that I get my opportunity in Grand Tours, or whatever it may be.”
It now seems likely he will miss the Vuelta.
That race begins on August 22nd, one day before the end of the Renewi Tour. Unless he shows stunning form and has a late call up, the overlap would seem to suggest that he will not be racing in the Spanish tour.
His last Grand Tour was the 2025 Giro d’Italia.
Bennett has had a stunning career with 71 career wins, including two stages in the Tour de France, plus three in both the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España.
Now 35, we hope that he can turn things around again and show his class before the end of the season.