George Bennett won't defend Tour of California title
George Bennett is targeting the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana
The New Zealand cycling star, who won the 2017 Tour of California and broke into the top-10 at last year's Tour de France, only to be forced out of the race due to illness, has revealed that he will not be riding the 2018 Tour of California, nor the 2018 Tour de France.
Instead, Bennett is targeting the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana, Grand Tours.
"I won't be at the Tour of California or the Tour de France next year," Bennett said. "After a lot of discussion, thinking and planning, and analysing courses, we are going to do the Giro and the Vuelta and then carry on to the worlds. They are the three main objectives this season."
Bennett has also ruled himself unavailable for Commonwealth Games selection.
Steven Kruijswijk will lead LottoNL-Jumbo at the Tour, with Bennett given leadership roles at the Giro and Vuelta.
Bennett is searching for his second top-10 finish at a Grand Tour. He was the first Kiwi to do so, when he first 10th at the Vuelta in 2016.
"It is hard to think that I'm missing the Tour of California and Tour de France – that's why I ride a bike – but I'll be back in 2019."
Bennett's contract at LottoNL-Jumbo ends at the end of the 2018 season.
"I won't be looking for a long contract. I feel like I'm making good steps each year. For guys that have been kicking off good results and feel like they're not going to get much better, a three-year contract is the dream because they're going to get paid at that price."
"For me, I'm looking at it from the sporting aspect which means equipment, support team around you, race calendar, roles in the team. Of course at some stage you have to look after yourself financially because it's a pretty short lifespan of a career but I'll never be too worried about money and instead looking for where my best chance is and making decisions around that."
"Lotto are keen on a future together and I'm pretty happy in the setup. For sure I'd be an idiot not to talk to other teams and get everything on the table and assess my options but by no means am I desperately looking for a change."
Bennett said his approach will be to worry about the results, and his future will take care of itself.
His first race of the year will be at the New Zealand national championships, focusing on the road race and then he will then head to Australia for the Tour Down Under.
George Bennett beat Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe and Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac to win the 2017 Tour of California. Bennett took over the race lead from Rafal Majka after winning the individual time trial at Big Bear Lake.