Tour de France green jersey winner Sam Bennett will ride in two Grand Tours for the first time this year.
Bennett, who last month became the first Irishman to wear the green jersey on the podium in Paris since Sean Kelly in 1989, has confirmed he will participate in the Vuelta a España.
The Tour of Spain gets underway next week and Bennett, who celebrates his 30th birthday on Friday, tweeted earlier: “Delighted to get the call up for La Vuelta, which is being staged for the 75th time after it was rescheduled from its original August date.
“This will be my first time doing two Grand Tours in one season, it will be great to push my limits and see what I’m capable of.”
Bennett missed the UCI World Championships that took place less than a week after the Tour de France ended. But he is excited about the prospect of taking on another tough Grand Tour less than a month after his last one, although the number of stages has been reduced from 21 to 18 this year.
The Carrick-On-Suir man will ride with the eight-man Deceuninck-Quick-Step team in the race, which starts in the Basque town of Irun on Tuesday.
He also has good memories for the Vuelta, having won two sprint stages in last year's event. Having won in a sprint finish in Paris on the last day of Le Tour, Bennett would love to go one better in the final stage into Madrid this time having been pipped into second on the line last year.
“Our team is a mix of youth and experience, who can deliver some really nice results in Spain," said Deceuninc-Quick-Step sports director Rik Van Slycke.
"Sam is going there after a great Tour de France, and he’ll count again on a strong lead-out train".
