Sam Bennett chose cycling over football, and now that's paying off

Irish sprinter Sam Bennett is making his mark on some of the biggest races – and says that Sean Kelly wasn't an inspiration when he was younger

Sam Bennett.

(Image credit: Yuzuru Sunada)

Sam Bennett’s progression to becoming one of the peloton’s fastest sprinters continued apace throughout 2017. A stage win at Paris-Nice in spring followed by a string of top-three placings in the Giro d’Italia confirmed his steadily growing status. But it was at the Tour of Turkey in mid-October that he really hit the headlines, winning four of the six stages.

He may not have faced the strongest opposition in Turkey, but the flurry of WorldTour points he earned there catapulted him to 65th in the rankings, Bora-Hansgrohe’s third best rider after Rafal Majka (43rd) and the one and only Peter Sagan (third).

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