Ben O'Connor completes Grand Tour trilogy and takes over Vuelta a Espana with 5 minutes over Primoz Roglic: "I felt a little bit in my own world today"
Cycling
Ben O'Connor has had some pretty good days throughout his career but without a single doubt, today's victory at the Vuelta a España will come down as one of his best-ever performances. The Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider took full advantage of his presence on the breakaway to take the stage win, a strong and big race lead, and to take complete the set of Grand Tour stage wins.
"I felt a little bit in my own world today. When the group of 30 went I was a bit disappointed because I thought it was a pretty good opportunity. When the race opened up again I kinda just went for it," the Australian said in a post-race interview. He was very keen on being in the head of the race, and attacked several times until this happened.
"I felt today was a day where I saw an opportunity and I just layed it all out there. i felt like I could win the stage from the start. it's pretty special when you you can go out and crush it like that I love every moment". O'Connor was a threat to the GC, but BORA did not react to it as they looked to provide Florian Lipowitz with an opportunity to get back in the serious GC fight and be a weapon against the likes of UAE Team Emirates.
However, O'Connor blew everyone's plans out the gate. A set of attacks with over 60 kilometers to go saw him and Gijs Leemreize drop the rest of the breakaway, and then he dropped his group companion for a solo victory of over 25 kilometers in distance. He gained 6:32 (plus bonifications) to the peloton, climbing from 23rd to first place.
"Today was noticeably less hot. Still hot but not 42 degrees. I enjoyed today a lot, it was beautiful racing all round. I was looking at the triple Grand Tour winners before the race started, I'm proud to have my name on that list, and now the red jersey as well it was a once in a lifetime," he says.
He has a whole 4:51 minutes on Primoz Roglic now, in second place, and we are talking about the rider who finished fourth at the Giro d'Italia and has strong support here including Felix Gall and Valentin Paret-Peintre. He becomes a strong contender for the overall victory in the race even.
"Maybe, maybe not," he jokes. "It depends on how it goes in Cazorla, Granada... But it's an excellent opportunity and I'm just gonna savor it as much as I can," he says of this new race situation. "Maybe it's a deja vu of the [2021] Tour de France but without a crash to start, so it's cool".
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- Ernesto Maggioni - The president of the commissaires Mafia. It is getting evident that this guy is basically "Iamalwaysrightandyouarestupidsoiwontlistentoyou" kind of guy. So fire him so that he can be always right in his homeabstractengineer10-11-2026
- Somehow it has got into his mind that he is a GC rider. He is primarily a classics and stage rider who can perform on GC given his day. As a result he is wasting his time on TDF GC and once committed to GC you are too tired to do anything else.abstractengineer10-11-2026
- 🐐❤️Lozza09-11-2026
- This is such a black eye to women's professional cyclocross if this result remains. Marie Schreiber won this race fairly. This finish is not unlike others in cyclocross. Lots of moving around to get to the finish not to cut anyone off , but to generate a sprint on soft wide tires caked with mud and sand. This is not nearly the same as a road race between two riders sprinting to the finish on faster bikes and thinner firmer tires. The powers in charge need to use some common sense, reverse this result and remember this is Cyclocross not Road racing. Unbelievable. . .Zencycle09-11-2026
- Tis beyond your comprehension fine sir so best not to look on with blind eyes to THE GOATS greatness.
Brucegel09-11-2026 - McNulty winning was beneficial in ensuring the rainbow jersey would not remain winless
Front24209-11-2026 - Eccelente! That's 7 riders in total in Red Bull who come from the devo team, 8 if you include Lipo
Rafionain-Glas09-11-2026 - again, nothing is going to be resolved. it is a discussion board. I simply said I didn't see how MS impeded LBs sprint. the UCI doesn't care about my thoughts, and I am really not that emotionally invested in it.mij09-11-2026
- provoke change, lol. this is a discussion board. nothing is going to change by what I say here. just commenting that it didn't look like MS impeded Brand. beyond that not trying to go too deep.mij09-11-2026
- as excellent as maga rednecks chloe dygert (and quinn simmons)?Ketterechts09-11-2026
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✨ An EXHIBITION of strength that will be remembered! Relive the LAST KM where 🇦🇺 @ben_oconnor95 was able to celebrate his victory and race lead. 🤩 ¡Una EXHIBICIÓN que será recordada! Revive el ÚLTIMO KM gracias a @carrefourES. #LaVuelta24
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