Team Jayco AlUla will line up at
Paris-Nice, which begins on
March 9th, with their new signing Ben O’Connor leading the team alongside Michael
Matthews. O’Connor, who recently completed an altitude training block, will be
targeting the general classification, while Matthews continues his preparations
for the upcoming Classics season.
The team heading to Paris-Nice includes Luke Durbridge,
Michael Hepburn, Kell O’Brien, Mauro Schmid, Max Walscheid, and the Australian
duo of O’Connor and Matthews, giving them a well-rounded squad capable of
handling the varied terrain the race will offer.
O’Connor has been putting in the hard work at high altitude,
ensuring he arrives in top shape for the first major one-week race of the
European season.
In a team press release, he expressed confidence in his
preparation.
“Training has gone as well as it can for the last couple
weeks. We’ve been working hard at altitude recently so we should be going into
the race with expectations every day. Paris-Nice marks the start of the big
one-week races in Europe. It’s always a tricky race that covers pretty much
every discipline and the TTT, in particular, is a stage in the race we are all
excited for.”
Paris-Nice is often unpredictable, with unfavourable weather
conditions, strong winds, and challenging mountain stages playing a crucial
role. Sports director Mathew Hayman acknowledged these factors but believes the
team is well-prepared to handle them.
“It’s always an exciting race, the weather can have a big
influence on the race and we’re looking forward to hitting the ground running.
We have Ben O’Connor starting as our leader there along with
Michael Matthews,
with Ben focusing on GC and Michael preparing for the Classics that are coming
up.
“It’s an interesting course, a fairly traditional Paris-Nice
with a couple of stages around Paris that are more classics style terrain. Then
there’s a team time trial, which we’re very excited about because we have a
very strong team for the TTT, and then we go into the mountains for the final
stages into Nice.”
The inclusion of a team time trial adds another layer of
strategy, and Jayco AlUla appears confident in their ability to perform well in
this discipline. With O’Connor aiming for the overall classification, his climbing
ability will be put to the test in the final mountain stages, where the race is
often decided.
The question is, can the Australian replicate the best form of his career from the end of 2024?