Colin Sheridan: Sam Bennett must be green with envy

HAPPIER TIMES: Sam Bennett celebrates winning a stage during the 2022 Vuelta a Espana. Pic: Bas Czerwinski/Getty Images

Watching Adam Yates pip his twin brother Simon to victory on the first stage of this year's Tour de France, one couldn’t help but spare a thought for Waterford’s Sam Bennett. When he sprinted to glory down the iconic Champs Elyesse on the final day of the 2020 Tour de France, Bennett must have thought that moment was the start of something huge in a career that had already promised so much. In claiming the Green Jersey - the award bestowed upon the Tour's best sprinter - he had emulated one of this country's most celebrated sportsmen in Sean Kelly, and at the age of 29, looked set to continue his rivalry against his great adversary Peter Sagan for years to come. 

Bennett had already won three stages on another Grand Tour - the 2018 Giro d’Italia - so his success in Paris surprised no one who follows the sport. Winning on the Champs Elysées, however, saw Bennett elevated to elite status within cycling, while announcing himself to the wider world outside of it.