10/02/2024

Ben O'Connor solos to first win in nearly two years at the Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia

Ben O'Connor has taken his first win since April 2022 after a stunning solo triumph at the Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia on Saturday afternoon.

As the began to break apart on the climb of the Collado Bermejo, an elite group of six that included the lieks of Sepp Kuss, Daniel Martinez, Ben O'Connor and Tim Wellens attacked from the main peloton and began to chase down the leaders and with 85km still to go, made the bridge.

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A second chase group in between the leaders and the peloton that featured such notable names as Rafal Majka, Will Barta, Steff Cras and Sergio Higuita were somewhat caught in no man's land at this point, two minutes from the leaders and around a minute and a half from the peloton.

With three of their number in the leading group of 11 riders, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team were doing much of the work at the front of the race.

With crosswinds threatening to cause even more damage to the peloton, the leaders still held a lead of 1:20 heading into the final 50km.

Ben O'Connor and Tim Wellens then decided with just over 40km to go they'd had enough of being in a group, and attacked clear of the breakaway, quickly building their advantage to over half a minute.

As the duo reached the final climb of the day, the Alto Cresta del Gallo their lead was up to 1:35 over the peloton.

Out of the two, O'Connor is the more renowned climber and with just over 13km to go, the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team put those climbing legs to good use, attacking Wellens and moving clear solo. Meanwhile from the chasing pack, Jan Tratnik was doing his best to close the gap.

As O'Connor began to descend towards the finish line, he had around 12 seconds over Wellens with Tratnik chasing hard at 40 seconds.

On the downhill and then flat finish, there was simply no reeling in O'Connor despite the best efforts of his chasers, the Australian able to savour the victory. In the battle behind, Tratnik prevailed over Wellens to take second.