George Bennett (cyclist)

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George Bennett
George Bennett (2015-05-27) - Bornem - Ronde van België, proloog, individuele tijdrit.jpg
Bennett at the 2015 Tour of Belgium
Personal information
Full nameGeorge Bennett
Born (1990-04-07) 7 April 1990 (age 31)
Nelson, New Zealand
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Weight58 kg (128 lb; 9 st 2 lb)[2]
Team information
Current teamTeam Jumbo–Visma
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeClimber
Amateur teams
2010Club Routier des 4 Chemins
2011Trek–Livestrong
2011Team RadioShack (stagiaire)
Professional teams
2012–2013RadioShack–Nissan[3]
2014Cannondale[4]
2015–LottoNL–Jumbo[5][6]
Major wins
Grand Tours
Tour de France
1 TTT stage (2019)

Stage races

Tour of California (2017)

One day races and Classics

National Road Race Championships (2021)
Gran Piemonte (2020)

George Bennett (born 7 April 1990) is a New Zealand professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Jumbo–Visma.[7] He represented New Zealand at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics.

Career[]

Bennett was born in Nelson in 1990,[8] where he was educated at Waimea College.[9] He originally took up cycle racing as a mountain biker, moving to Switzerland in 2009 to pursue his amateur career.[10] Bennett turned professional in 2012.[11]

In 2013, George Bennett nearly won the New Zealand road cycling championships. The 183.7 kilometre race in Christchurch had 10 climbs up the steep Dyers Pass road and Bennett was leading by 45 seconds over Hayden Roulston with the final flat 12 kilometres to go. Roulston was able to chase down Bennett and pass him on the line. Bennett commented that "I had everybody on the hill, but 21km solo [on the flat], when you're like me on a really windy day like this, it's just too far".[12]

He competed with the RadioShack–Nissan squad for two seasons before moving to Cannondale in 2014.[4][13]

2015[]

In October 2014, it was announced that he would join LottoNL–Jumbo for the 2015 season.[14] In May 2015, he was barred from starting the Giro d'Italia due to low cortisol levels (later discovered to have been caused by illness), as per Mouvement pour un cyclisme crédible (MPCC) rules. He was not replaced by his team.[15]

2016[]

George Bennett was named in the start list for the 2016 Tour de France[16] and finished in 53rd place.[17] His most impressive performance in the Tour de France was finishing seventh on stage nine at Andorre Arcalis, judged by some as the toughest stage that year.[8] He commented that "You are there in front of millions of people and it is some kind of dream. Especially that first stage, stage 9 where I was seventh. You start attacking them 30km from the line and think you are going to maybe get a result or something. It is good for growing and good for learning but I wouldn’t do that again. I really did enjoy it. I definitely felt the pressure, though, not personally, but you could sense a different atmosphere at the Tour. You could feel that people were a lot more stressed and things like that. I didn’t take any of that stress on because I was there as last minute call up and everything I did was a bonus really."[18]

George Bennett competed in the Men's individual road race at the 2016 Summer Olympics and came 33rd; he described the race as "absolutely" the toughest in his career, and 79 riders did not finish.[19]

After the Olympics, He was selected to ride in the 2016 Vuelta a España as a support rider for Steven Kruijswijk . When Kruijswijk withdrew, Bennett became the team leader. On stage 14, Bennett made the breakaway and came 4th in the mountainous stage to Aubisque 31 seconds behind the stage winner Robert Gesink.[20] He came 25th in the time trial on stage 19 to improve his overall standing to 10th on general classification, the highest ever placing for a New Zealander in a grand tour.[21][22] Bennett said that the season "started off reasonable and just got better and better...It's pretty hard to go past tenth at the Vuelta on a results base. That was pretty special".[23]

2017 - Victory in the Tour of California[]

George Bennett was forced off the bike after contracting glandular fever, and this meant that he missed the 2017 New Zealand National road race championships and the Tour Down Under.[24]

In 2017, George Bennett became the first New Zealander to win the general classification at a UCI World Tour cycling event, when he won the Tour of California.[25] After making the breakaway, he came second in the hilly stage 2. On the uphill finish, Bennett got away with Rafal Majka and finished two seconds down on the stage. He said of the stage, "We all worked together well. We had the same ambitions...None of us can beat [Andrew] Talansky in a time trial so we wanted to put space between us."[26] In stage 5 where the stage finished at the top of Mt Baldy, Bennett came third, two seconds behind Andrew Talanksy and Rafal Majka, leaving him in second place over all.[27] The individual time trial (stage 6) became the stage that would decide the Tour of California[28] Bennett, finished fourth in the 24 km time trial which put him into the race lead with a 35-second gap back to Rafal Majka.[29]

Bennett said "I was riding and I didn’t hear much over the radio, then just about halfway my director suddenly lit up and just got super excited, yelling in my ear and I knew that something was happening. It wasn’t really until a couple of K to go that I really stepped into it. I crossed the line and knew I had a good time. I was like third or fourth or something. I was waiting for the clock to tick down and it was a pretty nervous few minutes."[30]

Bennett also entered the Tour de France, and finished 7th on Stage 9, but retired midway through stage 16 when he came down with gastroenteritis.[31] He returned to Girona to recover.

2018[]

With good early season form (4th New Zealand National road race championship, 11th Santos Tour Down Under, 9th Tirreno-Adriatico, 6th Volta Ciclista a Catalunya) George Bennett achieved his highest GC result in a Grand Tour when he came in eighth place overall in the 2018 Giro d'Italia. Bennett was disappointed with the result, having hoped for a higher place. He said of it "I came here for a lot more than that. But that's all I could do in the end. I'll take it and it's better than 11th. At the start of the Giro I wouldn't have signed up for it but some things were out of my control and maybe I got the build up wrong as I was a bit too good too soon."[32]

In August, he rode the Tour de Pologne, coming third on stage four and seventh on stage six to finish in fourth place on general classification, 24 seconds behind the winner Michal Kwiatkowski.[33]

George Bennett competed at the World Road Cycling Championships at Innsbrook in Austria. In the 265 kilometre mountainous race, Bennett finished in 18th place. He said of the New Zealand team riding for him "The biggest thing was riding with a great bunch of Kiwi guys. This was the big difference to be well supported here. The race was super-hard from the start which surprised us. It meant that Paddy (Bevin), Dion (Smith) and Sam (Bewley) had to work harder much earlier. But they looked after me and it was a really well-run team. That's the big positive for me."[34]

2019[]

Bennett at the 2019 Tour of California, where he finished fourth overall.

George Bennett raced in support of Steven Kruijswijk at the 2019 Tour de France. Bennett found himself in 5th place after Jumbo Visma won the team time trial in stage two.[35] He increased this by one place in stage 3 and maintained 4th position until stage ten where he lost 9 minutes 41 seconds in the cross winds after riding back to get water bottles from the team car and missing the split.[36] Bennett commented that "It's one of the downsides of being in a really stacked team where they all can win. Then you have a guy like me who would be a GC leader on another team, you are on helping duties."[36][37]

George Bennett was involved in two crashes in stage 18, the first on a descent when he and Nicholas Roche fell and the second was in the last descent of the stage. Bennett crossed the line in 27th position.[38][39] He completed the Tour De France in 24th position.

In November 2019, Bennett underwent surgery to remove three ribs due to experiencing chronic slipping rib syndrome.[40]

2020[]

Bennett started his 2020 season at the Tour Down Under where he placed 8th overall.[41] In February at the National Championships, Bennett finished second in the road race after spending 80 kilometres (50 miles) out in front by himself only for Shane Archbold to catch and sprint past him on the line.[42] When the season resumed after the interruption by the COVID-19 pandemic, he managed to get 5th overall in both the Vuelta a Burgos and the Tour de l'Ain. He participated in the Tour de France, where he wore Māori-themed Shimano S-Phyre shoes painted by his artist girlfriend, Caitlin Fielder.[43]

Bennett's form continued in August at Gran Piemonte where he attained his first ever one-day win. This was the one of only two days in the season where Bennett was able to ride as the team leader. He said of the victory "I’m really happy that I could do it today. I told the boys that I wanted to try and they really did a wonderful job".[44]

Three days later at Il Lombardia, he got the highest ever result by a New Zealander in a Cycling monument by placing second behind Jakob Fuglsang.[45] Bennett attacked on the final climb with 6.5 kilometres to go, but Jakob Fuglsang managed to stay on Bennett's wheel and then counterattacked. Bennett finished 31 seconds behind Fuglsang.[46]

2021[]

George Bennett won the New Zealand race race title in February 2021 by almost two minutes. He attacked the group of Mark Stewart, Michael Torckler, Ryan Christensen and Michael Vink, successfully dropping them with eight kilometres to go in the 174 km race. Bennett said of the race "I’ve been trying for this title for 10 years. I have always wanted to win the jersey and to be able to wear it with my team all year on the World Tour is so special,"[47][48] George Bennett came second in the 44 km time trial two days earlier, finishing 0.7 seconds behind the winner Aaron Gate.[49]

Bennett was named as the team leader for Jumbo Visma for the 2021 Giro d'Italia. He was aiming for a top 5 finish.[50] However the first week was very disappointing as he struggled in the cold and wet conditions, losing time to his rivals on stage six.[51] He commented that “I would say it’s by quite a long way the biggest disappointment, not one of, the biggest disappointment,”[52] In the second half of the race, Bennett found better form, with a third place on stage 12[53] and a 7th place on stage 14 which finished with the climb up the Monte Zoncolan.[54] He finished in 10th position on the uphill finish on stage 17.[55] He eventually finished in 11th position in the general classification. George Bennett, instead of racing the Tour De France, spent July preparing for the Tokyo Olympics where he is expected to ride in the time trial and the road race. The 234 km men's road race which featured 4865m of elevation gain, was expected to suit his climbing style.[56] Bennett ended up finishing the road race in twenty-sixth, 6:20 down on winner Richard Carapaz.[57] He said of the race “I’m sure New Zealand just wasted six and a half hours watching that... I just didn’t have it. It’s a tough day. It happens".[58]

Major results[]

2009
2nd Overall Tour de Vineyards
9th Overall Tour of Wellington
2010
2nd Overall Tour de Vineyards
1st Stage 3
6th Overall Ronde de l'Isard
9th Overall Tour of Wellington
2011
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour of Wellington
2nd Overall Ronde de l'Isard
3rd Overall Tour de Vineyards
4th Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships
2012
4th Overall Tour de Vineyards
2013
2nd Road race, National Road Championships
8th Overall USA Pro Cycling Challenge
2014
9th Overall Tour of Utah
9th Overall Tour de Vineyards
2015
5th Road race, National Road Championships
10th Overall Tour Down Under
2016
7th Overall Tour of California
10th Overall Vuelta a España
2017
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour of California
7th Overall Abu Dhabi Tour
9th Overall Volta a Catalunya
2018
4th Road race, National Road Championships
4th Overall Tour de Pologne
5th Overall Tour of the Alps
6th Overall Volta a Catalunya
8th Overall Giro d'Italia
9th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
10th Giro di Lombardia
2019
1st Stage 2 (TTT) Tour de France
4th Time trial, National Road Championships
4th Overall Tour of California
6th Overall Paris–Nice
2020
1st Gran Piemonte
National Road Championships
2nd Road race
2nd Time trial
2nd Giro di Lombardia
5th Overall Vuelta a Burgos
5th Overall Tour de l'Ain
8th Overall Tour Down Under
2021
National Road Championships
1st MaillotNuevaZelanda.PNG Road race
2nd Time trial
8th Gravel and Tar Classic

General classification results timeline[]

Grand Tour general classification results
Grand Tour 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
A pink jersey Giro d'Italia — 122 — DNS — — 8 — — 11
A yellow jersey Tour de France — — — — 53 DNF — 24 34 —
A red jersey Vuelta a España — — 89 37 10 DNF 35 33 12 —
Major stage race general classification results
Race 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Jersey yellow.svg Paris–Nice — — 26 58 45 — — 6 — 30
Jersey blue.svg Tirreno–Adriatico — — — — — — 9 — — —
MaillotVolta.png Volta a Catalunya — 27 32 DNF — 9 6 — NH DNF
Jersey yellow.svg Tour of the Basque Country — — — 58 DNF 11 — 22 —
Jersey yellow.svg Tour de Romandie 37 58 — — — — — — —
Jersey yellow-bluebar.svg Critérium du Dauphiné — 53 46 14 — — — — — —
Jersey yellow.svg Tour de Suisse Has not contested during his career
Legend
— Did not compete
DNF Did not finish
IP In progress

References[]

  1. ^ "Team Jumbo-Visma – George Bennett". Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  2. ^ "George Bennett". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  3. ^ "Bennett to link up with RadioShack-Nissan-Trek". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. 11 November 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  4. ^ a b Brian Holcombe (19 November 2013). "Bennett survives tough job market with Cannondale deal". VeloNews. Competitor Group, Inc. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  5. ^ "Cheery Christmas for ambitious Team Jumbo-Visma". Team Jumbo–Visma. Team Oranje Road BV. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  6. ^ "Team Jumbo-Visma 2020 roster presented in Amsterdam". Bianchi. F.I.V. Edoardo Bianchi S.p.A. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  7. ^ "Jumbo-Visma". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  8. ^ a b Long, David (12 July 2016). "Kiwi rider George Bennett has bike checked for motor at Tour de France". Stuff. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  9. ^ Reich, Josh (6 December 2010). "Wheels of good fortune". Nelson Mail. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  10. ^ "George Bennett guest column: a stitch in time". Rouleur. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Kittel, Voigt and Velits set for Santos Tour Down Under". Cycling Central. Special Broadcasting Service. 8 January 2013. Archived from the original on 10 January 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  12. ^ "Off-colour Hayden Roulston wins title". Stuff. 13 January 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  13. ^ Shane Stokes (19 November 2013). "Kiwi climber Bennett signs contract with Cannondale Pro Cycling". VeloNation. VeloNation LLC. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  14. ^ "George Bennett joins Belkin". sbs.com.au. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  15. ^ Emil Axelgaard (8 May 2015). "Low cortisol levels take Bennett out of the Giro". Cycling Quotes. CyclingQuotes.com 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  16. ^ "2016 > 103rd Tour de France > Startlist". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  17. ^ Rollo, Phillip (31 July 2016). "Riding to Rio – George Bennett backs up from solid Tour de France debut". Stuff. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
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  20. ^ September 2016, Patrick Fletcher 03. "Vuelta a Espana 2016: Stage 14 Results". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  21. ^ September 2016, Patrick Fletcher 09. "Vuelta a Espana 2016: Stage 19 Results". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
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  26. ^ AP (16 May 2017). "Majka wins second stage in San Jose, takes Tour of California lead". ABC7 San Francisco. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  27. ^ Livingston, John. "Sepp Kuss crushes Mt. Baldy on Stage 5 of Tour of California". Durango Herald. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  28. ^ May 2017, Cycling News 19. "Tour of California stage 6 Big Bear time trial start times". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  29. ^ May 2017, Pat Malach 19. "Tour of California 2017: Stage 6 Results". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  30. ^ May 2017, Pat Malach 19. "Tour of California 2017: Stage 6 Results". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
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  33. ^ "MICHAL KWIATKOWSKI IS THE WINNER OF THE 2018 TOUR DE POLOGNE – Tour de Pologne". Retrieved 8 July 2021.
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  35. ^ "George Bennett becomes fourth Kiwi to win Tour de France team time trial". Stuff. 7 July 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  36. ^ a b Brown 2019-07-17T13:31:20Z, Gregor (17 July 2019). "George Bennett accepts sacrificing his own GC chances to support team aims at Tour de France". cyclingweekly.com. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  37. ^ "Tour de France: Bottle bungle ends George Bennett's yellow jersey dream". Stuff. 15 July 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  38. ^ "Tour de France 2019: Kiwi George Bennett involved in two crashes during 18th stage". Newshub. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  39. ^ "Tour de France: George Bennett involved in two brutal crashes on stage 18". Stuff. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  40. ^ "George Bennett: I've essentially had three ribs removed". Cyclingnews. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  41. ^ "Cycling: George Bennett claims best finish at Tour Down Under". Stuff.co.nz. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  42. ^ "Cycling: Shane Archbold beats George Bennett to win road race national championship". Newshub. 17 February 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  43. ^ "Custom shoes for George Bennett and others by Caitlin Fielder". VeloNews.com. 5 September 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  44. ^ "George Bennett wins Gran Piemonte". cyclingnews. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  45. ^ "New Zealand cyclist George Bennett in historic finish at Il Lombardia in Italy". stuff.co.nz. 16 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  46. ^ "Cycling: George Bennett finishes second at Il Lombardia". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  47. ^ February 2021, Cyclingnews 14. "George Bennett claims long-awaited New Zealand road race title". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  48. ^ "Cycling: Jumbo-Visma rider George Bennett wins his first national title". Newshub. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  49. ^ February 2021, Cyclingnews 12. "New Zealand Championships: Gate pips George Bennett in time trial as Williams claims women's title". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  50. ^ "'You have to aim high': George Bennett keen to seize opportunity at Giro d'Italia". Stuff. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  51. ^ "George Bennett's Giro d'Italia dream dashed after losing significant time on stage six". Stuff. 13 May 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  52. ^ "Giro d'Italia a career lowlight for champion New Zealand cyclist George Bennett". Stuff. 18 May 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  53. ^ "Cycling: Kiwi George Bennett falls short in bold bid for Giro d'Italia stage victory". Newshub. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  54. ^ "Cycling: Kiwi George Bennett misses opportunity for famous stage victory in Giro d'Italia". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  55. ^ "George Bennett has another top-10 finish at Giro d'Italia". NZ Sports Wire. 26 May 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  56. ^ "George Bennett turns up the heat ahead of 'extreme' Tokyo Olympics". Stuff. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  57. ^ "'I just didn't have it': George Bennett misses out on medal in brutal road race". Stuff. 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  58. ^ "'I just didn't have it': George Bennett misses out on medal in brutal road race". Stuff. 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.

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