Sam Bennett's plight highlights pressures in transfer market
The Irishman hoped the Tour de Pologne would reboot his season, but he was forced to abandon on stage 4 after crashing earlier in the week. Out of contract at Decathlon-AG2R, the former Tour de France green jersey is still hunting a deal for 2026.
Sam Bennett hadn’t raced since the Giro d’Italia, but he had spent the past two months preparing himself for his return to action at the Tour de Pologne. The hope was that the race would serve as something of a shop window. The Irishman’s contract at Decathlon-AG2R expires at the end of this season and he has yet to find a deal for next year.
During the Spring, Bennett had begun retooling his sprint in a way not entirely dissimilar to a golfer breaking down their swing. In his training efforts, he began to prioritise torque over speed, and he resumed that work in June and July.
“I think we backed off a little bit too much before the Giro and I just didn’t have enough done,” Bennett told Domestique earlier this week on the Tour de Pologne. “Now I have a good block done and I’m feeling quite good, so I just have to see how it works out in racing.”
Sadly, Bennett never got the chance to sample the fruits of those labours in Poland. He missed the bunch sprint on the opening stage to Legnica after crashing heavily in the finale. Although he struck an optimistic note the following morning – “It’s just road rash, really. It should be ok,” he said – the impact began to take a toll as the race drew on.
Thursday’s stage to Cieszyn offered the second chance for the sprinters, but Bennett would again miss out. The effects of his crash had drained him of all energy, and he abandoned midway through the stage.
On Friday morning, Bennett found himself saying his goodbyes to his Decathlon teammates as they trooped towards the team bus outside the Hotel Szafran in Czeladź. While they set off for the start of stage 5 in Katowice, Bennett was in an Uber destined for the airport.
“Sam had quite a few wounds from the crash on stage 1,” directeur sportif Luke Roberts told Domestique. “Obviously, his body’s been working hard to recover from those injuries, and it cost him quite a lot of energy. Yesterday was not an easy race, it was difficult all day with a high tempo. He was already suffering quite a lot where the course was undulating and he wasn’t able to follow the peloton anymore, so it was better to stop the race and focus on his recovery.”
Bennett’s schedule for the remainder of 2025 had yet to be defined at the beginning of this week, but Roberts was confident the fast man would be back in action within a couple of weeks. “We’ll concentrate on his recovery in the next days, and then there are options for him ahead. We’ll look at what’s best suited for him,” Roberts said.
Bennett, for his part, will hope to get back into the fray as soon as possible, given that he is essentially racing for his future. The 34-year-old confirmed to Domestique this week that he has yet to sign a contract for 2026. Olav Kooij is expected to join Decathlon as their marquee sprinter next season.
“I don’t know about next year yet, I just have to keep getting results,” Bennett said. “The aim is to keep going and keep sprinting.”
Bennett has won at least one professional race in every one of the past thirteen seasons, a sequence stretching back to the 2013 Tour of Britain and one maintained this year with victories at the Tour de la Provence and the Région Pays de la Loire Tour.
All told, the Carrick-on-Suir man has won 71 races over the years, including ten stages at Grand Tours. He was green jersey at the 2020 Tour de France, and he has won on the Champs-Élysées.
It’s a body of work that speaks for itself, but cycling is a fickle kind of a business.A sprinter’s value in this year’s market probably isn’t helped by the timing, given that 2026 marks the beginning of a new three-year WorldTour cycle.
Twelve months ago, relegation threatened teams would have taken punts on sprinters of lesser pedigree than Bennett, but there isn’t the same urgency to bring in potential points-scorers this winter.
Bennett knows that as well as anyone. Still, he will hope to get back on the bike and in the shop window as quickly as he can. There are still opportunities to showcase what he can do from here to October.
