Sam Bennett has been named amongst the provisional starters for his Bora – Argon 18 team for the Tour of Qatar in February.
However, the Carrick-on-Suir rider will be up against it, as amongst the other names listed as provisional starters are many of the best sprinters in the World. Included amongst those set to start are Marcel Kittel (Team Giant-Alpecin), Arnaud Démare (FDJ), Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha), Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo).
Bennett had some good results in last year’s race. He was fifth on Stage 4 of last year’s race from Dukhan to Mesaieed, won by Tom Boonen. The following day, he was seventh on the stage from Al Zubara Fort to Madinat Al Shamal, which was won by Andre Greipel. He grabbed his third top ten on the final stage won by Arnaud Démare when he was eighth.
He will hope to build on his great 2014 season where he took victories in the Rund um Köln, Clasica de Almeria and a stage of Bayern Rundfahrt. He will be up against it in Qatar though, but has shown previously that he has no fear of the big names.
