The Tour Down Under was his second race this season. George Bennett participated in the national road championships in New Zealand earlier in Januari and traveled to Adelaide for the World Tour race Tour Down Under. We catch up with him in Melbourne.

How was your summer in NZL?
I had really enjoyable time at home, I spent the first few weeks of the off season in Europe waiting for the team camp so I didn’t have too much time in New Zealand without the bike, but I tried to catch up with as many friends as possible and make the most of my 2 months at home, no matter what its a great place to be

Do you train alone?  
I normally prefer training alone in Europe but in New Zealand I have a good group of guys and some club rides I use, I think for me its the best training environment I could hope for. Mentally and physically everything is just more relaxed and that breeds the ideal circumstances to go fast and keep a balanced life which is difficult in Europe 20,000 km from home.

Is it difficult to train that far away from the team?
No, it doesn’t make any difference, everything is automatically uploaded from my Pioneer  and I have regular contact with Mathieu Heijboer my coach via Skype. if anything it’s a lot easier to be here because of the weather at that time of the year,  I never train in Holland anyway so its the same as if I was in Girona, the only problem we have is working out the time zones.

What are your goals this season?
My first goal of the year is Paris-Nice followed by Liège-Bastogne-Liège, I have never ridden the Ardennes before so I’m excited about my first classics campaign.