Yesterday, in part one, we talked about George’s style and his passion for his home country of New Zealand. Today we explore how he got into the sport and, of course, we talk rugby. Meeting with George Bennett
G4: How did you get into cycling?
GB: I started riding to keep fit for rugby.
G4: Rugby’s a religion in New Zealand isn’t it?
GB: It’s everything. It’s, God I love it. I played the sport for eleven years with my club. But there’s something creeping into the sport, something that’s part of the new rugby culture that I don’t really like. Before it was head down and work hard. It’s hard to articulate, and the attitude of some players annoys me a bit, it’s like because they play rugby they think they’re the kingpins of the country.
Anyway, I started mountain biking at the weekends. Got into road racing and became pretty good at it, won some races and decided to give it full gas. I even went to the MTB junior worlds. The following year I left school. The choice was to go to university or try and make a living out of bike riding. Dad just asked me what I would rather do. I said I wanted to be a cyclist. So I thought I’d give it a year. I went over to Switzerland initially and really didn’t really know what was going on until, after my first win, I was picked up by a French team (VC Morteau-Montbenoit) who had another Kiwi on the squad.
The following year I progressed to CR4C Roanne (French Div 2 team). Won a few races and placed well in others, including one of the top French under-23 races (best young rider in Tour de l’Isard), which enabled me to move to the Trek-Livestrong team.
G4: And, you’ve never looked back?
GB: Not yet!
G4: It’s unusual for a New Zealand rider to be a climber?
GB: I think I’m the only climber that’s ever come out of New Zealand. Most of the riders start out on the track, get nurtured by the development programme and then get picked up by a big team. So they are more orientated towards sprinting and time-trialling. If you think of riders like Julian Dean, Hayden Roulston, Jack Bauer….there’s not a climber among them. There are a couple of good amateur climbers, but none in the pro ranks, which I suppose is good for me.
G4: If you started off on mountain bikes, you must be a good bike handler?
GB: Yes, but it’s all relative. I am compared to a trackie. But, when I see riders like Peter Sagan. I think wow that’s a whole another level. I’ve always liked to think I was pretty good on the downhills and handy on the bike. In you’re not, you waste so much energy, struggle too much and don’t finish races in the pro ranks. I guess relative to the other pros, I’m just pretty standard.
G4: It’s a big step up from under 23 to ProTour, did you find that?
GB: Yeah, but I stepped up from the Livestrong development team and took part in races in Utah and Colorado. They were hard races but I was definitely able to hold my own and was good there. Then, when I came to Europe, my first races as a pro were okay, but once you step up to the WorldTour, that’s when you really notice it. Everybody’s fast and there’s two hundred guys jostling for position on narrow roads……it’s another level. Now I’m starting to be competitive at the WorldTour level so hopefully I can keep it going.
G4: Interestingly, the GCN network picked three promising riders to follow at last year’s Giro d’Italia: George Bennett, Elia Viviani and Alex Dowset. The first two are now team mates at Cannondale Pro Cycling.
Links: Part one
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