George Bennett's preparation for the Vuelta a Espana has been less than ideal having spent more time at the pre-race training camp in bed than on his bike, he will start "nothing to lose" on Saturday.
LottoNL-Jumbo's Kiwi was forced out of the Tour de France on stage 16 with illness when sitting 12th overall and has struggled to regain full health since.
"I had more or less two weeks completely off the bike. I did a couple of one-hour rides. I was meant to for a bit longer but just kept having to go home. Finally a few days before San Sebastián I started to lose the symptoms and was excited to race," Bennett told Cyclingnews. "I went there with my girlfriend and tried to make a weekend of it. I actually raced surprisingly well. Ok, I wasn't good but I was still there and was 30-something and could attack in the finale and was active in the race. It is a nice race but in the race, I still felt like I kept on yawning. Which was quite strange. I came home and rode to Andorra a few days later to start a week training camp."
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While a training camp pre-Tour went to plan for Bennett and LottoNL-Jumbo, it was a different story when preparing for the Vuelta as he described.
"The next day, I felt completely crook again and instead of a virus, this time I had a throat infection. I went on antibiotics and spent the training camp in bed," he said. "I managed to string a couple of rides together and did maybe three big, big rides and the rest of the time was just trying to recover. Then I came back to Girona and have basically been off the bike and done a few short sessions over the weekend and have not built up for the Vuelta in any shape or form. It is an interesting approach to the Vuelta. Normally I go to training camps in the mountains and this time I have been laying in bed so this time so we'll see how this works out for me."
2016 was a breakthrough year for Bennett in which he made his Tour and Olympic Games debut and finished tenth overall at the Vuelta. The 27-year-old had a delayed start to the 2017 season due to glandular fever, recovering to finish top-ten at Abu Dhabi Tour, Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, and 11th at Vuelta al Pais Vasco. Bennett then claimed the first win of his career with the Tour of California in May and was on track to record the best ever GC result at the Tour by a Kiwi.
Tour de France reflections
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