After turning professional in 2012, George Bennett has risen through the cycling ranks, with the 2018 season proving to be one of his best to date.
In May, the 28-year-old LottoNL-Jumbo rider took his best-ever Grand Tour result with eighth place at the Giro d’Italia. He finished outside the top 10 in just two of the seven stages races he started throughout the year. In 2017 he won the Tour of California. However, a few years ago he toyed with the thought of quitting the sport.
Bennett has been battling a chronic side-stitch issue – something that has affected him throughout his entire career. It hits him worst when he's going really deep, both in racing and in training. For years, he's been trying and failing to find a solution for the pinch point between his diaphragm and lung, and there was a time when he thought he might never be free of the problem.
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That's when the idea of throwing in the towel started swirling in his mind, but he pushed on. Years later, he is still affected by the issue, but he believes – and hopes – that there's a fix somewhere around the corner.
"Sometimes, you think, 'What’s the point?' You can get a bit despondent," Bennett told Cyclingnews at the Rouleur Classic earlier this month.
"Then, if you feel like you're on the verge of fixing it, you think: 'It's the last race – just suck it up and deal with it.' If you can convince yourself that you're close to fixing it, it does still slow you down a lot, but it doesn't make you sit up and stop trying.
Learning from errors
Giro or Tour
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/george-bennett-a-couple-of-times-ive-thought-about-throwing-away-cycling
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