George Bennett's fifth season in the WorldTour will go down as one to remember for the 26-year-old LottoNL-Jumbo rider. Debuts at the Tour de France and Olympic Games was followed by Bennett becoming the first New Zealander to finish in the top-ten at the Vuelta a Espana.
A two-year contract extension was also signed mid-year, a reward for Bennett's season that "started off reasonable and just got better and better".
"It's pretty hard to go past tenth at the Vuelta on a results base. That was pretty special. Actually, in single moments, I think riding onto the Champs-Élysées, seeing the Arc de Triomphe, seeing the planes flying overhead and realising that you are actually at the event and the whole reason you race bikes," Bennett told Cyclingnews of his season highlights. "It's definitely hard to pinpoint one and part of that is that I didn't really have any time to appreciate and think and reflect because I went from Tour of California, which was potentially a highlight with my one podium of the year on the mountain stage, then straight back for the Dauphine and straight into the Tour.
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"Then I did San Sebastian, and the next day I flew to the Olympics then I flew back for the start of the Vuelta and it was just the most hectic thing you could imagine," he said. "By the time I got the Vuelta, after about five days I thought I was done. I was just stuffed. I had been working for Stevie [Kruijswijk] and still felt pretty good on the bike. After he crashed out, there was pretty low morale all round and that took some serious digging to save that one and it turned into the race of my career. It is very difficult to pinpoint a moment but it was definitely a pretty special year for me."
With the team holding Bennett back for the early-season to ensure he was good to go for his bigger objectives later in the year, the Tour of California is where his season came alive. Third place on the queen stage elevated him onto the podium, only to drop to ninth after a "bad" time trial. With nothing to lose, Bennett went down fighting on the final stage and carried that sense of freedom and enjoyment into his other races for the season.
"I have never enjoyed racing as much as I have this year," he said. "I think California was the start of it but everywhere I went after that, I was just loving it. People always ask back in New Zealand if I still enjoy it, but I think I enjoy it ten times more than when I was kicking rocks at the back of the peloton in 2012."
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