 Bennett in 2019. | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Sam Bennett |
| Nickname | 'Sammy B' |
| Born | (1990-10-16)16 October 1990 (age 35) Wervik,Flanders, Belgium |
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1] |
| Weight | 73 kg (161 lb; 11 st 7 lb)[1] |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Sprinter |
| Amateur teams | |
| 2007–2010 | Vélo-Club La Pomme Marseille |
| 2009 | Carrick Wheelers Dan Morrissey |
| 2010 | Française des Jeux(stagiaire) |
| Professional teams | |
| 2011–2013 | An Post–Sean Kelly |
| 2014–2019 | NetApp–Endura |
| 2020–2021 | Deceuninck–Quick-Step[2][3] |
| 2022–2023 | Bora–Hansgrohe |
| 2024– | Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Sam Bennett (born 16 October 1990) is an Irish professional cyclist who rides forUCI WorldTeamDecathlon–AG2R La Mondiale. He is a road sprinter who turned professional in 2011. He has won tenGrand Tour stages: three stages in the2018 Giro d'Italia, two stages at the2019 Vuelta a España, two stages at the2020 Tour de France, where he also won thePoints classification, one stage at the2020 Vuelta a España, and two stages at the2022 Vuelta a España.
Bennett was born in 1990 inWervik,Flanders, Belgium, where his father Michael came in 1989 to play professional football for local clubEendracht Wervik. He moved with his parents to their native Ireland at the age of four, where he spent most of his early years growing up inCarrick-on-Suir, the hometown of fellow cyclistSean Kelly.[4][5]
Bennett was head-hunted byVélo-Club La Pomme Marseille at 17, and joined them in the south of France, after completing his first year of third-level education atWaterford Institute of Technology (where he was embarking on an Honours Degree in Health and Exercise Studies). In 2009, Bennett rode, for the first time, theRás Tailteann with the Carrick Wheelers Dan Morrissey squad. During the 2010 season, Bennett won the under-23 road race at theIrish National Cycling Championships inSligo, aged 19.
In 2011, Bennett left France and joined Sean Kelly'sAn Post–Sean Kelly squad, under the tutelage of manager Kurt Bogaerts. He again won the under-23 road race at theIrish National Cycling Championships and also theGrote Prijs Stad Geel, a UCI 1.2 ranked one day race.
The following year he finished tenth in theunder-23 road race at theUCI Road World Championships inLimburg, and seventh in the under-23 road race at theUEC European Road Championships.
In 2013An Post–Chain Reaction moved up to Professional Continental level; Bennett won two stages in theRás Tailteann – stage 3 intoListowel and stage 8 inSkerries – and stage 5 of theTour of Britain, in which he also took two second places.
Having joinedNetApp–Endura in 2014, Bennett took his first professional win at the UCI 1.1 rankedClásica de Almería and won twice in Germany: theRund um Köln and stage 5 of the 1.HC rankedBayern–Rundfahrt intoNuremberg.
The 2015 season began for Bennett at theTour of Qatar, where he won the final stage, finishing in theDoha Corniche. Bennett won the first and third stages at theBayern–Rundfahrt, allowing him to wear his first professional points classification jersey. Bennett was involved in a mass crash at the end of theScheldeprijs.[6] Bennett began theTour de France sick, having been diagnosed with ahernia on hisdiaphragm. He completed 16 stages of the race before abandoning. He returned to racing at theArctic Race of Norway and won stage 2 intoSetermoen; he finished 2nd in the points classification toAlexander Kristoff. Bennett took his final win of the season atParis–Bourges in a sprint finish.
In March 2016, Bennett won the first stage of theCritérium International inCorsica. Bennett'sTour de France effort was hindered by a crash that resulted in broken fingers on his right hand, but he continued to finish the race last in the general classification – thelanterne rouge – and finishing in the top 10 on the final stage inParis. After recovering from his Tour injuries, Bennett went on to take a stage win at theGiro di Toscana, and won the points classification. The following month, he won his second consecutiveParis–Bourges.
On 7 March 2017, Bennett won Stage 3 of theParis–Nice.[7] Bennett went on to win 2 stages of theTour of Slovenia in June, and won the points classification. At theCzech Cycling Tour, he again won two stages and the points classification jersey. In September, he won theMünsterland Giro in a photo-finish. In October, Bennett won four out of the six stages of the2017 Tour of Turkey.[8]
Bennett started the season in theTour Down Under, despite having an illness.[9] He also started in theParis–Nice, but had to abandon midway through stage 3 due to sickness.[10] At theVolta a Catalunya, Bennett finished second on stage two. On 11 May 2018, he achieved his maiden Grand Tour stage victory, winning the seventh stage of theGiro d'Italia inPraia a Mare, in a sprint finish. He then added further stage victories on stage 12, finishing at theAutodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari motor racing circuit inImola,[11] and the final stage intoRome.[12]
In August 2019, he was named in the startlist for theVuelta a España, his first time competing in theVuelta a España.[13] On 26 August, he wonStage 3.[14] He also wonStage 14, and finished in second place on four other stages; he finished third in thepoints classification behind overall contendersPrimož Roglič andTadej Pogačar.
In December 2019, Bennett signed a two-year contract with Belgian teamDeceuninck–Quick-Step.[15]
He was named in theteam to compete in theTour de France and narrowly finished in second place in a sprint finish onstage 3.[16] On stage 5, Bennett finished in third place and took thegreen jersey, becoming the first Irish rider to lead one of the classifications in the Tour sinceSean Kelly won the same jersey in1989. On stage 10, Bennett won his first stage in a sprint finish and also regained the green jersey fromPeter Sagan, its seven-time winner.[17][18] Bennett became the sixth Irish cyclist to win a stage at the Tour de France, afterShay Elliott, Kelly,Stephen Roche,Martin Earley andDan Martin, and the second, after Elliott, to win a stage in every Grand Tour.[19][20] On 20 September, Bennett won his second stage of the Tour, becoming only the fifth cyclist to win thefinal stage of theTour de France while wearing thegreen jersey, and the second Irish (and the second from the small town of Carrick-on-Suir[21]) cyclist to win the Green Jersey (after Kelly, who won it 4 times, in1982,1983,1985, and 1989).[22][23][24]
He wonStage 4 of theVuelta a España.[25][26] On stage 9, he crossed the line first but was relegated for a 'shove' in the final kilometre, with the stage win being awarded to Germany'sPascal Ackermann.[27] In the final stage, he again lost out to Ackermann when he was narrowly beaten into 2nd place in the sprint, thus failing by the width of a wheel-rim to achieve a win on the last-day stage of each Grand Tour, after final-day stage wins in the2018 Giro d'Italia and the 2020 Tour de France.[28][29]
Bennett missed the2021 Tour de France due to a knee injury.[30][31]
In August 2021, Bennett was announced to be rejoiningBora–Hansgrohe on a two-year contract, along with his teammateShane Archbold.[32]
Bennett was not part of theBora–Hansgrohe team that took part in the2022 Tour de France.[33]In August, Bennett won thesecond and third stages of the2022 Vuelta a España in two sprint finishes. He became the second Irish rider to win at least 10 stages in Grand Tours afterSean Kelly.[34]
In November 2023, Bennett signed with theDecathlon–AG2R La Mondiale team for 2024.[35]
In May he won theFour Days of Dunkirk after winning four of the six stages of the race, it was the first general classification win of his professional career.[36]
Points race,UEC European Junior Track Championships
Road race,National Junior Road Championships Road race,National Under-23 Road Championships Under-23 road race
Sprints classification
Points classification
Points classification Points classification Road race,National Road Championships Points classification Points classification after Stages 4–6Points classification Points classification after Stages 2–7 Points classification
OverallFour Days of Dunkirk Points classification Points classification| Grand Tour | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro d'Italia | — | — | 158 | 112 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
 Tour de France | DNF | 174 | — | — | — | 138 | — | — | — | DNF |
| Vuelta a España | — | — | — | — | 134 | 137 | — | DNF | — | — |
| Monument | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan–San Remo | — | 78 | 129 | 66 | — | 28 | 60 | 42 | — | DNF | — |
| Tour of Flanders | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Paris–Roubaix | 134 | — | OTL | — | — | — | NH | — | — | — | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | Has not contested during his career | ||||||||||
| Giro di Lombardia | |||||||||||
| Classic | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne | — | 19 | DNF | 24 | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Brugge–De Panne | Previously a stage race | — | — | — | 1 | 17 | DNF | — | |||
| Gent–Wevelgem | 12 | DNF | — | 17 | — | — | DNF | 55 | 106 | DNF | DNF |
| Scheldeprijs | 5 | DNF | 12 | — | — | — | 8 | 2 | 13 | — | — |
| Eschborn–Frankfurt | — | NH | 3 | 22 | 7 | — | NH | — | 1 | 69 | DNF |
| Hamburg Cyclassics | — | 113 | 130 | 11 | — | — | NH | — | DNF | ||
| Münsterland Giro | — | 11 | — | 1 | 11 | — | — | — | 5 | — | |
| Paris–Tours | — | 100 | 15 | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | — | |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
| IP | In progress |
| NH | Not held |
| OTL | Outside of time limit |
It's an incredible achievement for the town of Carrick-on-Suir, with a population of under 6,000 at the last census, to produce two green jersey winners some 31 years apart.
Just a wheelrim involved between the pair of then, Sam Bennett not quite coming to get that hat-trick he'd been searching for of last day wins on all the Grand Tours.
