Ben O'Connor solos to first win in nearly two years at the Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia
Cycling
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.
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.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- 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
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
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Ben O'Connor offre un premier bouquet en 2024 à Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale sur le Tour de Murcie ! L'Australien (28 ans) a lâché Tim Wellens (UAE Emirates) dans la dernière difficulté, à 15km. Le duo était parti à 45km, laissant un groupe formé à plus de 100km. #VueltaRM24
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