Ben O'Connor readies himself for "one of the most important days" of Red Jersey defence on stage 13 at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana

Ben O'Connor is another day closer to winning the Red Jersey at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana following stage 12. On stage 13 however, the Australian will face arguably the biggest challenge yet in the defence of his race lead.

“It was a tricky start, it was actually really hard," reflected the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team leader in his post-stage 12 interview, after a day that saw Equipo Kern Pharma's Pablo Castrillo take the win from the breakaway as the general classification riders kept their powder day in preparation for stage 13. "We just controlled the race, made some pace on the final climb. It was quite fast so it wasn’t really ideal for being aggressive but yeah, I felt pretty good today."

It was a much calmer day for O'Connor and his Decathlon teammates than the day prior, where UCI handed out a spat of yellow cards, much to the Australian's chagrin. After being forced into deleting his X account overnight due to backlash following a post he made, O'Connor cut a much calmer and more relaxed figure post-stage 12.

"I never lost confidence! I was annoyed but it doesn’t mean I don’t believe in myself," he concludes, with one eye already on the potentially decisive stage 13. "Tomorrow is an extremely hard finish. It will be one of the most important days since the start of this race.”