Sam Bennett Takes 2021 Milan-San Remo

Prediction: Sam Bennett Takes 2021 Milan-San Remo (+1400) – Odds via Sugarhouse NJ

Only one Irish cyclist has ever managed to conquer the Milan-San Remo, and almost 30 years after a native last won the Italian race, Sam Bennett will come to repeat the feat in 2021.

Sean Kelly triumphed in the 1986 and 1992 editions of the one-day Milan-San Remo amid a sea of European competition, and Bennett will compete on March 20 as a +1400 underdog with Sugarhouse USA.

That prices pitches the Deceuninck–Quick-Step representative behind favorite Mathieu van der Poel (+300), Wout van Aert (+400), Julian Alaphilippe (+600) and Davide Ballerini (+1200). However, there’s a belief the 30-year-old is certainly capable of timing a break into cycling’s upper echelon, and a one-day event like the Milan-San Remo plays to his strengths.

A runner-up in the points classification of the UAE Tour in early 2021, Bennett won the opening stage of the Paris-Nice in early March as a signal of intent heading to Italy:

It also seems almost too much of a coincidence that Bennett grew up in Carrick-on-Suir, the hometown of two-time Milan-San Remo winner Kelly. Superstitious or not, there’s got to be something in that Tipperary water that forms a capable competitor in this race..