In the last 12-months, George Bennett made his debut at both the Tour de France and Olympics Games road race, and claimed a maiden victory at the Tour of California. Bennett also became the first Kiwi to finish top-ten overall at the Vuelta a Espana in September.
An off-season bout of glandular fever slowed the 27-year-old's start to 2017 but top tens at Abu Dhabi Tour and Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and 11th at Vuelta al Pais Vasco suggested he would be a rider to watch in California. He continued his most consistent start to a season by taking the overall victory and now the LottoNL-Jumbo rider is aiming to add to his growing list of recent achievements by winning a stage at the Tour de France, forgoing general classification ambitions.
"We have the whole team going for stage wins," Bennett told Cyclingnews of the team tactics for the Tour de France. "We have Dylan [Groenewegen] with the sprint train obviously targeting the sprint stages and then Primoz [Roglic] really going full gas for the time trials and the breakaway. And then Robert [Gesink] and myself essentially for the last two weeks and there are not heaps of opportunities for the Tour this year, so we are a going to have to be pretty sharp on the days that count."
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Although Bennett's debut Tour was ridden in service of Wilco Kelderman, he still managed to infiltrate several breakaways with seventh place at Andorra Arcalis on stage 9 his best result. In 2017, Bennett is targeting the second and third weeks of the race for results but is well aware of the reduced opportunities compared to 12-months prior.
"I would love Chambery [stage 9] but I think so would everybody else," he said when asked if there was a specific stage he has in mind. "Izoard [stage 18] , maybe Foix [stage 13] on the really short intense stage. Any of those Alpine or Pyrenees stages really. There are actually only a few opportunities. I think we have stages 12 and 13, eight and nine, and then a couple in the last few days. In between, maybe I start looking into the medium stages for those opportunities as well."
With no focus on the general classification or king of the mountains classification, Bennett added that the team will need to think outside the box and look to try different tactics if it is to secure wins in the high mountains.
Winning momentum
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