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"

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".