Sam Bennett - no same day spoilers

Bambaata

That was a great finish! Great to see a bit of versatility in his game and good quick thinking

CramCycle

Only criticism was the constant looking behind, it looked like he was barely moving for the last 300m, great move to go when he did.

Beasty

Looking behind allowed him to ease a little going into the bends, knowing he still had a big enough gap. It meant he could ride a bit more safely, and reduced the risk of him completely blowing up. I would agree that if it was on the flat (where he would not go from 1.5km out I would have thought) looking back would not be a good option, but in this case I think there was some sense in doing so.

CramCycle

Oh completely, it just didn't look great but looking at the guy behind him when he tried to speed up, it was definitely the right move.

Beasty

Any thoughts of making the Tour of Turkey a Grand Tour - could be billed as the only Eurasian GT, maybe replacing the Vuelta???


:pac:

harringtonp

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ackermann-insists-theres-room-for-him-sagan-and-bennett-at-bora-in-2019/

RobFowl

Can I get this right, our best pro and possibly best Irish sprinter ever wins a race (wins !) with a superb and powerful attack and us Freds are criticising him for looking behind too often and taking it easy though corners (where he came down last year and many in the bunch came down this year).
I (and Beasty ) have his number if you want us to pass on the advice..

Beasty

Can I just add today is Thursday - I think a proper debate on looking over your shoulder should be reserved for Fridays. I will then take my place in Rob's corner, in my Friday Fred Frock....

MPFGLB

RobFowl wrote: »

Can I get this right, our best pro and possibly best Irish sprinter ever wins a race (wins !) with a superb and powerful attack and us Freds are criticising him for looking behind too often and taking it easy though corners (where he came down last year and many in the bunch came down this year).
I (and Beasty ) have his number if you want us to pass on the advice..

Best Pro and best sprinter ever ?

Sean Kelly ring any bells

Beasty

MPFGLB wrote: »

Best Pro and best sprinter ever ?

Sean Kelly ring any bells

He was saying best current pro, and best sprinter ever! I really don't think anyone can argue strongly against either comment

MPFGLB

Beasty wrote: »

He was saying best current pro, and best sprinter ever! I really don't think anyone can argue strongly against either comment

I can

Kelly was best sprinter this country has produced ....won green at Tour among other things

When Sam wins that he can have the crown

eeeee

MPFGLB wrote: »

I can

Kelly was best sprinter this country has produced ....won green at Tour among other things

When Sam wins that he can have the crown

That's not an out and out sprinters jersey though. It's for those fast enough who survive the mountains.
Sam is a pure road sprinter, his body doesn't really do hills as well as a classical tank like Kelly, who is undoubtedly a better cyclist in fairness, and a savage sprinter, but not a pure sprinter.
It's a Satan v Gaviria thing, Gaviria is a faster person out and out, but Sagan can climb a bit, which comes at a loss of the very, very top end (taking pure flat contests here, not difficult stages with survivable climbs etc). Bennett is a Gaviria.

Beasty

I think the fact Kelly won a grand tour shows he was never an out and out sprinter. He was without doubt the best all-round road racer.

Doc07

RobFowl wrote: »

Can I get this right, our best pro and possibly best Irish sprinter ever wins a race (wins !) with a superb and powerful attack and us Freds are criticising him for looking behind too often and taking it easy though corners (where he came down last year and many in the bunch came down this year).
I (and Beasty ) have his number if you want us to pass on the advice..

Surely the divine Irish right to ‘hurl from the ditch’ should apply to cycling as well😂

Keeks

Beasty wrote: »

He was saying best current pro, and best sprinter ever! I really don't think anyone can argue strongly against either comment

MPFGLB wrote: »

I can

Kelly was best sprinter this country has produced ....won green at Tour among other things

When Sam wins that he can have the crown

Is Kelly still racing?

RobFowl

MPFGLB wrote: »

Best Pro and best sprinter ever ?

Sean Kelly ring any bells

Kelly (I'm not worthy) retired in 1994 so hasn't been a pro for 24 years now !


And I stand over the best sprinter comment though in terms of best ever Irish Pro no one comes close to the King.

buffalo

nee wrote: »

It's a Satan v Gaviria thing,

letape

RobFowl wrote: »

Kelly (I'm not worthy) retired in 1994 so hasn't been a pro for 24 years now !


And I stand over the best sprinter comment though in terms of best ever Irish Pro no one comes close to the King.

When Sam has the number of grand tour stage wins as Kelly I’ll agree with you. 5 in the tour de France and 16 in tour of Spain (not all flat stage granted) - he had 5 second places in the 82 Tour de France and 5 also in 85 and this was from a rider who was riding for the GC in 84, finishing 4th.

Think also of the number of stage wins in Paris nice, Volta a Catalunya, tour of the Basque Country, Critérium International..... A very significant number of his 190+ race wins were sprints.

No one is arguing that Sam isn’t a great talent with a strong future ahead of him and I’d love to see him challenge Kelly’s record for sprint wins. So far he has excelled in the tour of turkey, a stage in Paris nice, tour of Slovenia, Paris/bourges and of course had 3 great wins in the giro this year, but against a limited field of sprinters.

gman2k

The 26-year-old took the 190km stage 3 2017 Paris Nice from Chablis to Chalon-sur-Saone and fought off challenges from the likes of Alexander Kristoff,  Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel.
Not too shabby competition he beat there.

letape

gman2k wrote: »

The 26-year-old took the 190km stage 3 2017 Paris Nice from Chablis to Chalon-sur-Saone and fought off challenges from the likes of Alexander Kristoff,  Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel.
Not too shabby competition he beat there.

As a 25 year old Kelly won 4 stages in the 1982 Paris nice and 3 the year after. Yes these included two ITT stage wins but a number of flat sprint stages too.

As a 23 year old he won 5 stages in the 1980 Vuelta, including the first two flat stages and the final stage into Madrid plus the points jersey... the list is endless.

I’m not looking to lessen Sam’s considerable achievements, but there is no comparison to be made of their sprinting success at the same age. Hopefully Sam will change this in the future.

Whyner

I'm just annoyed I missed out in being into cycling and enjoying some of those 190 victories back then.

Has he got his own dvd boxset?

Macy0161

I've always felt that Sam could have a go at some of the classics - not going to happen on his current team, but I wouldn't have him as a "pure" sprinter. One of the giro stages was him/ bora dropping, or at least putting a lot of the sprinters under pressure, on a late climb. Won't happen at Bora though, obviously.

^

There is some great stuff on youtube but a lot is of poor quality taken from old VHS recordings.

gman2k

Sam has stated that the goal of any sprinter is to be winning stages in France in July, but that it's not going to happen if he is on the same team as Sagan. He said he would need to leave Bora if he wants to ride the TDF.
And he has said he would be having talks with Bora after his Turkey wins to become a protected rider/ leader next year at races.

Finnrocco

Whyner wrote: »

I'm just annoyed I missed out in being into cycling and enjoying some of those 190 victories back then.

Has he got his own dvd boxset?

Look up 1992 Milan San Remo on Youtube.

Finnrocco

Sam has the capabilities to win semi-classics (Danny Van Poppel won the Binch-Chimay race a few weeks ago with a last k attack up a cobbled hill after his team led out to the base of it - sound familiar), Jakobsen has won one earlier, Hodeg & Ackermann as well I think.

He wont get to have a free reign in the big classics once Peter the Great is there, however I think he has found his niche.
His team seem to always look after him well towards the finish, he can win Giro stages (possibily Tour ones as well if he was let) and maybe that's enough, for both marketability, contracts, sponsors etc. If he went to another team maybe things wouldnt get the same support in the sprints, although he seem to be able to freestyle it a bit.

Would love to see him with QuickStep, think he would do well there. (obv Gaviria, Hodeg, Jakobsen might not be pleased).

carltonleon

I think Sam's obvious ambitions are to win stages at Le Tour and even he realizes that he will have to leave Bora to achieve that dream. Whether he will leave is a totally different question. Personally I would love to see him win stages at Le Tour but it takes time to build up that relationship with a team and to be comfortable with their sprint train (Look at Kittel's struggles) and for them to be comfortable with how Sam rides so I definitely don't see him leaving Bora this year but perhaps next would be the ideal time

Whyner

Finnrocco wrote: »

Look up 1992 Milan San Remo on Youtube.

Done, excellent stuff.

Gas to see them dragging bodies to the side after crashing, no neck braces around

Carlton Kirby would have been having a fit over those motor bikes in the 1992 video

CramCycle

It does look so cool without helmets, hair flowing in the wind.