The New Zealand climber tells Cyclist about the changing face of racing, working for and against the big stars, and his future plans
Words Katy Madgwick Photography Eloise Mavian/Tornanti
Cyclist: After working for others for many years, this year you’re focusing more on your own goals. Was this a key factor when you moved from UAE Team Emirates to Israel-Premier Tech?
George Bennett: It was something I was seeking out. I like working for people but I definitely get a better version of myself going for results.
I like the balance. Like this year I’ve spent a lot of time riding for other people already, but I’ve had Abruzzo [Giro d’Abruzzo, where he came third] and I’ll get other chances.
It took me a while to learn how to ride for other people when Roglič came along [Bennett was at Jumbo-Visma with Primož Roglič until 2022].
It’s notthat I don’t like it.
Riding for a guy like Stevie Williams [teammate at IsraelPremier Tech] is great; it’s easy when it’s your mates.
I enjoy that aspect, but I do need those times to ride for myself.
Cyc: The team environment seems really positive. Was that a big draw?
GB: You look at everything when you’re looking at teams: your role, equipment, how the team is run in terms of business, performance, all the systems they have in place.
Another thing is the intangible vibe, the atmosphere, the momentum they have – a good group of guys that all enjoy each other’s company.
We hang out together, we train together outside of races.
It’s important and it creates that momentum. And it means that there’s more cohesiveness on race day.
Cyc: Physically you’re in great shape. Have you changed anything?
GB: The big changes are around the race programme, not just going from race to race and being absolutely in a shell.
Last year I did crazy stuff.
I was at the nationals in New Zealand on Sunday, flew that night, was racing on Tuesday or Wednesday, and on the road for six weeks.
They’re the kinds of things that I just don’t have the engine for.
I’ve got an OK engine if it’s treated well. It has to come straight out the workshop and I can be good for sure, but it has to be very well-tuned.
It helps that my trainer and I have a really good partnership.
He respects the fact that I’ve been doing this a long time and I know what works for me.
I know what really gets me going well.
I stumbled across that recipe years ago but in the last few years I haven’t had a chance to cook with it.
Now I’m doing it again and straight away I’m seeing results.
Cyc: You’ve supported top riders at Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates. What was the contrast like between those teams?
GB: UAE as a group was really fun. Tadej Pogačar was so talented that it just worked.
It was very relaxed.
I really enjoyed Jumbo for their professionalism – I got that absolute process of the little things.
I was probably more at home at Jumbo just because they knew me; they knew how I worked and what made me good.
Cyc: What are the biggest improvements you’ve seen in the sport throughout your career?
GB: There are the obvious ones: eating, altitude, equipment, aerodynamics.
And that’s accounted for all this change of speed, races being taken on further out.
Off the bike, VeloViewer and knowledge from the DSes has changed racing a lot in my career.
I used to look at a profile and go, ‘There’s a climb here, there’s a climb there.’
And you’d be surprised by a lot of corners and a lot of climbs that you didn’t know were there.
Now everyone’s fighting for every corner. When I was 15, I would stay up all night on Saturday and do 100km with my friends on Sunday.
I didn’t even have my own road bike.
Now at 15, kids are already weighing their food and going to altitude. By the time they turn pro they already know more about the sport than I knew when I was 25.
I’m yet to see how that affects them later in life.
You hear, ‘Oh, they’ll have shorter careers,’ but for me they’ll have more successful careers. They’ll be better for longer.
Cyc: Post-cycling, do you see yourself becoming a DS?
GB: Not a chance. Sitting in a team car looking at an iPad doesn’t interest me one bit.
I would stay in the sport, for sure.
I’m deeply interested in the aerodynamics and the physiological part of cycling, so I could see myself in some kind of performance role.
I’m 34 now, but honestly I still want to ride for four, five, six more years.
I’ve got no stopping point on the horizon, no date in my mind. I want to go for as long as I can.
Cyc: What’s your career highlight so far?
GB: That’s easy. Tour de France 2017.
I was up there coming into the last week and then I got sick. So it was the best and the worst.
It was this breakthrough stage for me; suddenly I was in the front group with Richie Porte and Chris Froome.
I felt like I’d broken through with the big boys.
It was this magic moment in my life where I thought, ‘I can be a GC rider at a Grand Tour.’
Outside of results, it’s times where I’ve overcome problems, like the side stitch [Bennett had major surgery for slipping rib syndrome in 2019].
That’s been a fight for me for years, and stole years of my career.
Then there’s moments where you realise you’re getting on top of it, and it’s just this relief, this euphoria, because the future’s open for you, you know?
Cyc: What race would you love to win?
GB: Tour de France, obviously. To be the World Champion, that’d be unreal.
George Bennett
Born Nelson, New Zealand, 7 April 1990 (age 34)
Team Israel-Premier Tech
Notable results
2024 3rd, Giro d’Abruzzo
2023 2nd, Time-Trial, National Championships
2021 1st, Road Race, National Championships
2020 1st, Gran Piemonte 2nd, Giro di Lombardia
2019 1st, Stage 2 (TTT), Tour de France
2017 1st, Tour of California
