Sam Bennett wants to embrace the pressure he is feeling as he targets a first career stage win at the Tour de France.

The Irish sprinter, 29, has had a brief but tough relationship with cycling's biggest race in his career to date, hampered by injuries and illness in his appearances in both 2015 and 2016.

But in the years since he has collected Grand Tour stage wins in both the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana, and he is regarded as one of the favourites for the Tour's sprint days with the help of the powerful Deceuninck-QuickStep squad.

Bennett has given up trying to predict much about anything in this strangest of seasons and strangest of years.

The Tour will begin against the backdrop of rising coronavirus cases in France, with many questioning whether it will make it all the way to Paris.

"The way 2020 has been going, nothing surprises me anymore," Bennett said. "We just have to stay open-minded. I wouldn't be surprised if it did make it to Paris, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it didn't make it past the weekend."