Ben O’Connor ready for first big test of 2025 at Paris-Nice: “Training has gone as well as it can for the last couple weeks”
Cycling
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?
Fin MajorCycling Journalist
Fin Major is a UK-based writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2024. He is the site’s main writer for FAQs and evergreen explainers and has written around 2,000 pieces for the platform. Alongside this work, he focuses on in-depth analysis and covers the biggest races on the calendar, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, providing clear context around performance trends, tactics, and key storylines.
In his reporting, Fin uses reputable data sources such as ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. Outside of writing, Fin is an active cyclist, which supports his practical understanding of the sport and its demands.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment