Sam Bennett - no same day spoilers

RobFowl · 08-08-2022 09:50AM

I see the Bora line up for the Vuelta seems to have been decided (PCS startlist) and Sam and Ryan both dropped from it :(

Dodge · 08-08-2022 10:04AM

They were removed sometime last week. Weren’t there last time I checked anyway. Still not confirmed of course. 7 names down for Bora on that list

jack01986 · 08-08-2022 10:30AM

I'd be surprised if he went. Doesn't appear to have any form this year.

Paddigol · 08-08-2022 10:41AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119444230#Comment_119444230

Yeah, you can understand the smaller teams bringing a sprinter in the hope that if the bunch get to the finish together on a flat stage he might be in with a shout of a podium, but Bora are too big a team now, with genuine GC options, to be carrying a hopelessly out of form sprinter and a lead out train for the sake of keeping up appearances.

mr spuckler · 08-08-2022 10:55AM

I'd read from an interview with the DS Rolf Aldag at the weekend that it was still very much open, not that bringing Sam right now seems to make very much sense imo.

“There’s a lot of learning still to do though, so it might be interesting to learn [at the Vuelta] just how to combine a sprinter’s team with GC goals and see what type of riders you need.”

Bora-Hansgrohe went full-on for GC in the Giro and in the Tour, meaning Bennett and any other sprint options were excluded.

“So why not try for it to see how it plays out?” he asked rhetorically.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bora-hansgrohe-ready-for-difficult-decisions-on-vuelta-a-espana-goals-and-lineup/

Richard Hillman · 08-08-2022 11:04AM

With Roglic a maybe, Pog & Vingegaard not likely, Bora are probably looking for Hindley as a Vuelta winner and will build the team around him.

Macy0161 · 08-08-2022 11:13AM

Pog confirmed not going. I still think it's a bit of risk for them to build a team around GC. But also, notwithstanding his form this year, you'd wonder why they signed Sam. Even if he was going well, how would he fit in?

retalivity · 08-08-2022 11:38AM

You would think Mullen would be a decent shout to do the donkey work for Bora on the flat, if they are bringing Kelderman, Hindley, Higuita and Buchman.

Sam has no hope unfortunately.

Junior · 08-08-2022 03:33PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119444426#Comment_119444426

To win a GT was a 3 year plan with Bora, they bought in a load of different GC contenders and were throwing them against the wall to sew what stuck this year. Sam on top form was to get them wins in the mean time to make sure they stayed on winning ways. You can see with Higuita shipping time in the ITT in Poland they are now back to the drawing board. After this year I think Bora will assemble one GC Team and attempt to win another GT. They could have a good go at Tdf but I don't see them being better than Pog or Vinegaard.

GandhiwasfromBallyfermot · 08-08-2022 03:49PM

Is it possible we could have zero Irish participants in any of the grand tours this season? When was the last time that happened? Dunbar still a possibility for Ineos but not sure how him leaving impacts his chances.

sham58107 · 08-08-2022 04:08PM

Sam seems to have spent most of June/July in Ireland , how did he hope to be at Vuelta , he is not even 2nd best sprinter in Bora anymore, there is no way Bora are still paying his supposedly huge salary . Himself and his agent really screwed thing up last year with QS , as i said before if he had stayed put he would have easily won 2nd green jersey last year and then sit down and talk to QS , looks like he left a team in Football terms like Man City to go to Everton ?? and he is not even getting games there !!.

Don't think he will be at Bora next year , so what then ? there are now a lot of younger and better sprinters out there , most of them can climb and TT as well. He is not young , and before the SB fans come on . Sean Kelly said earlier during TDF he really had to go to Spain, otherwise he was in big trouble . Unless he becomes World Champion and I cant see that happening , he has not won a major race in nearly 18 months , smaller teams would not even look at him .

Don't get me wrong , I thought he was a great sprinter , but his off the bike skills and agent need to change .

Squidgy Black · 08-08-2022 05:34PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119445905#Comment_119445905

Eddie definitely won’t get the chance with Ineos since he’s signed with Bike Exchange, not sending him to Poland or the Vuelta Burgos last week said it all

Junior · 09-08-2022 07:38AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119445985#Comment_119445985

He has a contract with Bora next year.

breezy1985 · 09-08-2022 08:24AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119447902#Comment_119447902

He also couldn't have won green when he was out injured.

Calling Bora Everton is also laughable.

Dodge · 09-08-2022 08:24AM

Weird comment about being in Ireland for a couple of months. He won’t have been there without permission and we have roads too…

Macy0161 · 09-08-2022 08:44AM

He was injured last year, and iirc he did a lot of the training in Ireland in 2020 before winning green.

Bora are one of the top teams - the signing doesn't really make sense more as they have gone so GC. Bora themselves clearly didn't 100% believe their riders could be genuine GC contenders, or they wouldn't have signed Sam.

The year has been a complete sh!tshow for Sam, no doubt, but more how they work out why. As I said above, he seemed confident in 2020 he'd worked out the training that worked for him, so either he carried on with that and now needs to change it, or Bora made him try something different. We haven't really heard, as unlike lefevere they act like professional management.

breezy1985 · 09-08-2022 08:50AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448143#Comment_119448143

Bora as you said are a top team. They are trying to hit multiple targets and the plan seemed to be target the Giro and Vuelta GC and let go in for Sam at the TdF.

Fitness, form and confidence seem to have all played their part and the fact that QS are so good that everyone seems to struggle afterwards. I doubt it's anything Bora have done wrong though.

Macy0161 · 09-08-2022 10:24AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448174#Comment_119448174

They could be insisting/ changing the training? iirc his bora coach was even quoted earlier in the year, saying they weren't expecting him to be on form early in the year because of the strength work they had him doing? Where as I would've said in 2020 Sam was crediting a focus on endurance with him going well.

I sprint stage for QS at this years tour, plus Lamperts surprise ITT - we can mythologise QS a bit too much sometimes too.

breezy1985 · 09-08-2022 10:31AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119448625#Comment_119448625

Gaviria, Cavendish, Viviani and now Bennett all rapidly declined after QS.

They didn't have a great tour but anyone who wasn't Jumbo didn't.

Macy0161 · 09-08-2022 11:20AM

Could hardly say Sam's last year at QS was success either tbf. But as discussed earlier in the thread, it's a bit simplistic in my view to just put it down to leaving QS, without looking at the focus of the teams they went too. Notwithstanding Cav had decent palmares before he went to QS too! There's also been a few sprinters that have faded away at QS as well - Hodeg for example was once their new great white hope.

09-08-2022 11:27AM

Hodeg is a man we hear nothing about these days, last I read he was only starting to walk again after 4 or 5 operations having suffered an accident/crash in the winter.