Sam Bennett (cyclist)
Sam Bennett (born October 16, 1990) is an Irish professional cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam Bora–Hansgrohe. A road sprinter, he turned professional in 2011, and has won eight Grand Tour stages: three stages for Bora–Hansgrohe in the 2018 Giro d'Italia, two stages for Bora–Hansgrohe at the 2019 Vuelta a España, two stages for Deceuninck–Quick-Step at the 2020 Tour de France, where he also won the Points cl*ification, and one stage for Deceuninck–Quick-Step at the 2020 Vuelta a España.
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 1.1 Early career
- 1.2 An Post–Sean Kelly (2011–13)
- 1.3 NetApp–Endura (2014–19)
- 1.3.1 2014 season
- 1.3.2 2015 season
- 1.3.3 2016 season
- 1.3.4 2017 season
- 1.3.5 2018 & 2019 seasons
- 1.4 Deceuninck–Quick-Step (2020–21)
- 1.4.1 2020 season
- 1.4.2 2021 season
- 1.5 Bora–Hansgrohe
- 2 Major results
- 2.1 Grand Tour general cl*ification results timeline
- 3 References
- 4 External links
Biography
Bennett was born in 1990 in Menen, Flanders, Belgium, where his father Michael came in 1989 to play professional football for local club Eendracht Wervik. He moved with his parents to their native Ireland at the age of four, where he spent most of his early years growing up in Carrick-on-Suir, the hometown of fellow cyclist Sean Kelly.
Early career
Bennett was head-hunted by Vélo-Club La Pomme Marseille, at 17 and joined them in the south of France after he completed his first year of third level education at Waterford Ins*ute of Technology (where he was embarking on an Honours Degree in Health and Exercise Studies). In 2009, Bennett rode, for the first time, the Rás Tailteann with the Carrick Wheelers Dan Morrissey squad. During the 2010 season, Bennett won the under-23 road race at the Irish National Cycling Championships in Sligo, aged 19.
An Post–Sean Kelly (2011–13)
In 2011, Bennett left France and joined Sean Kelly's An Post–Sean Kelly squad, under the tutelage of manager Kurt Bogaerts. He again won the under-23 road race at the Irish National Cycling Championships and also the Grote Prijs Stad Geel, a UCI 1.2 ranked one day race.
The following year he finished tenth in the under-23 road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Limburg, and seventh in the under-23 road race at the UEC European Road Championships.
In 2013 An Post–Chain Reaction moved up to Professional Continental level; Bennett won two stages in the Rás Tailteann – stage 3 into Listowel and stage 8 in Skerries – and stage 5 of the Tour of Britain, in which he also took two second places.
NetApp–Endura (2014–19)
2014 season
Having joined NetApp–Endura in 2014, Bennett took his first professional win at the UCI 1.1 ranked Clásica de Almería and won twice in Germany: the Rund um Köln and stage 5 of the 1.HC ranked Bayern–Rundfahrt into Nuremberg.
2015 season
The 2015 season began for Bennett at the Tour of Qatar where he won the final stage, finishing in the Doha Corniche. Bennett took stage wins on the first and third stages at the Bayern–Rundfahrt, allowing him to wear his first professional points cl*ification jersey. Bennett was involved in a m* crash at the end of the Scheldeprijs. Bennett began the Tour de France sick, having been diagnosed with a hernia on his diaphragm. He completed 16 stages of the race before abandoning. He returned to racing at the Arctic Race of Norway and won stage 2 into Setermoen; he finished 2nd in the points cl*ification to Alexander Kristoff. Bennett took his final win of the season at Paris–Bourges in a sprint finish.
2016 season
In March 2016, Bennett won the first stage of the Critérium International in Corsica. Bennett's Tour de France effort was hindered by a crash that resulted in broken fingers on his right hand, but he continued to finish the race last in the general cl*ification – the lanterne rouge – and finishing in the top 10 on the final stage in Paris. After recovering from his Tour injuries, Bennett went on to take a stage win at the Giro di Toscana, and won the points cl*ification. The following month, he won his second consecutive Paris–Bourges.
2017 season
On 7 March 2017, Bennett won Stage 3 of the Paris–Nice. Bennett went on to win 2 stages of the Tour of Slovenia in June, and won the points cl*ification. At the Czech Cycling Tour, he again won two stages and the points cl*ification jersey. In September, he won the Münsterland Giro in a photo-finish. In October, Bennett won four out of the six stages of the 2017 Tour of Turkey.
2018 & 2019 seasons
Bennett started the season in the Tour Down Under, despite having an illness. He also started in the Paris–Nice, but had to abandon midway through stage 3 due to sickness. At the Volta a Catalunya, Bennett finished second on stage two. On 11 May 2018, he achieved his maiden Grand Tour stage victory, winning the seventh stage of the Giro d'Italia in Praia a Mare, in a sprint finish. He then added further stage victories on stage 12, finishing at the Autodromo InterNational Socialist German Workers' Partyonale Enzo e Dino Ferrari motor racing circuit in Imola, and the final stage into Rome.
Bennett at the 2019 Paris–Nice, where he won two stages.In August 2019, he was named in the startlist for the Vuelta a España, his first time competing in the Vuelta a España. On 26 August, he won Stage 3. He also won Stage 14, and finished in second place on four other stages; he finished third in the points cl*ification behind overall contenders Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar.
Deceuninck–Quick-Step (2020–21)
In December 2019, Bennett signed a two-year contract with Belgian team Deceuninck–Quick-Step.
2020 season
He was named in the team to compete in the Tour de France and narrowly finished in second place in a sprint finish on stage 3. On stage 5, Bennett finished in third place and took the green jersey, becoming the first Irish rider to lead one of the cl*ifications in the Tour since Sean Kelly won the same jersey in 1989. On stage 10, Bennett won his first stage in a sprint finish and also regained the green jersey from Peter Sagan, its seven-time winner. Bennett became the sixth Irish cyclist to win a stage at the Tour de France, after Shay Elliott, Kelly, Stephen Roche, Martin Earley and Dan Martin, and the second, after Elliott, to win a stage in every Grand Tour. On 20 September, Bennett won his second stage of the Tour, becoming only the fifth cyclist to win the final stage of the Tour de France while wearing the green jersey, and the second Irish (and the second from the small town of Carrick-on-Suir) cyclist to win the Green Jersey (after Kelly, who won it 4 times, in 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1989).
He won Stage 4 of the Vuelta a España. On stage 9, he crossed the line first but was relegated for a 'shove' in the final kilometre, with the stage win being awarded to Germany's Pascal Ackermann. In the final stage, he again lost out to Ackermann when he was narrowly beaten into 2nd place in the sprint, thus failing by the width of a wheel-rim to achieve a win on the last-day stage of each Grand Tour, after final day stage wins in the 2018 Giro d'Italia and the 2020 Tour de France.
2021 season
On 21 June, it was confirmed on that Bennett would miss the Tour de France due to a knee injury.
Bora–Hansgrohe
In August 2021, Bennett was announced to be rejoining Bora–Hansgrohe on a two-year contract, along with his teammate Shane Archbold.
Major results
20081st Points race, UEC European Junior Track Championships1st Road race, National Junior Road Championships1st Martin Donnelly Junior Tour20091st Alleins GP1st Stage 7 Rás Tailteann5th Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships20101st Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships1st Stage 4 Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour7th Grand Prix de Vougy8th Dijon–Auxonne–Dijon2011National Road Championships1st Under-23 road race5th Road race1st Grote Prijs Stad Geel20123rd Ronde van Noord-Holland7th Road race, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships8th Grote Prijs Stad Zottegem10th Road race, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships20131st Overall Suir Valley 3 DayRás Tailteann1st Stages 3 & 81st Stage 5 Tour of Britain4th Schaal Sels4th Kernen Omloop Echt-Susteren7th Dutch Food Valley Cl*ic10th Omloop van het Waasland20141st Clásica de Almería1st Rund um KölnBayern–Rundfahrt1st Sprints cl*ification1st Stage 52nd ProRace Berlin5th Scheldeprijs6th RideLondon–Surrey Cl*ic20151st Paris–BourgesBayern–Rundfahrt1st Stages 1 & 31st Stage 6 Tour of Qatar1st Stage 2 Arctic Race of Norway2nd Velothon Berlin4th Trofeo Playa de Palma10th Trofeo Santanyi-SesSalines-Campos20161st Paris–Bourges1st Stage 1 Critérium International2nd Trofeo Felanitx-Ses Salines-Campos-Porreres3rd Eschborn–Frankfurt – Rund um den Finanzplatz4th Trofeo Playa de Palma5th Overall Giro di Toscana1st Points cl*ification1st Stage 27th Overall Tour of Qatar8th Grand Prix de Fourmies20171st Münsterland GiroTour of Turkey1st Stages 1, 2, 3 & 5Tour of Slovenia1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 1 & 4Czech Cycling Tour1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 2 & 41st Stage 3 Paris–Nice2nd Down Under Cl*ic8th London–Surrey Cl*ic10th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton20181st Rund um KölnGiro d'Italia1st Stages 7, 12 & 21Tour of Turkey1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 2, 3 & 67th Eschborn–Frankfurt20191st Road race, National Road ChampionshipsBinckBank Tour1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 1, 2 & 3Tour of Turkey1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 1 & 2Vuelta a España1st Stages 3 & 14Held after Stages 4–6Paris–Nice1st Stages 3 & 61st Stage 3 Critérium du Dauphiné1st Stage 7 UAE Tour1st Stage 7 Vuelta a San Juan2nd London–Surrey Cl*ic6th Road race, UEC European Road Championships10th Rund um Köln20201st Race TorquayTour de France1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 10 & 211st Stage 4 Vuelta a España1st Stage 1 Tour Down Under1st Stage 3 Tour de Wallonie1st Stage 4 Vuelta a Burgos8th Scheldeprijs20211st Cl*ic Brugge–De PanneParis–Nice1st Stages 1 & 5UAE Tour1st Stages 4 & 6Volta ao Algarve1st Points cl*ification1st Stages 1 & 32nd Scheldeprijs20221st Eschborn–FrankfurtGrand Tour general cl*ification results timeline
References
External links
- Sam Bennett at Cycling Archives
- Sam Bennett at ProCyclingStats
- Sam Bennett at Cycling Quotient
- Sam Bennett at CycleBase
- Sam Bennett at UCI
- Irish Cycling Q&A
- VC la Pomme