Everything about Ben O'Connor

Who is Ben O'Connor? 

Ben O'Connor is a professional cyclist who currently races for Team Jayco AlUla and is one of the few riders in this century to win a stage in all Grand Tours. Furthermore, he has finished on the podium of the World Championships and Vuelta a España, as well as finishing close at both Tour de France and Giro d'Italia.

Name: Ben O'Connor
Born: 25 November 1995
Place of birth: Subiaco, Australia
Turned pro: 2015
Height: 1.88m

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Ben O'Connor at the 2024 Vuelta a España, where he finished second and led most of the race. @Sirotti

Born in Subiaco, Australia, Ben O'Connor emerged to be one of the leading stage-racers of the 2020's, leaving his mark with astounding breakaway victories in the Grand Tours but also as a a strong specialist in the three-week races. He turned pro in 2015 with the Navitas Satalyst Racing team, and the next year he raced with another Australian continental team: Avanti IsoWhey Sport. Here he won the New Zealand Cycling Classic and throughout the year gave signs of being a very talented climber. This earned him a World Tour contract in 2017 as he signed with Team Dimension Data where he stayed for four seasons.

That year he won with the team for the first time at the Tour of Austria, but it was in 2018 that he broke through the big scene as he won a stage at the Tour of the Alps against most of the riders who would target the Giro d'Italia. He aimed for a Top10 finish at the Giro which he was in contention for, but was forced to abandon in the final week of the race. In 2019 he raced both Giro and Vuelta a España but lacked results out of the year. In 2020 he'd win early in the year at Etoile de Bessèges, and in what was his final year with the South African team, he took a stage win at the Giro d'Italia on stage 17 coming from the day's breakaway.

In 2021 he moved to Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, and it proved to be a success story for both. O'Connor had a modest start to the season, but showed his talent as a stage-racer after finishing 6th and 8th at the Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphiné respectively. At the Tour de France, he got in a breakaway on stage 9 to Tignes and took an astounding stage win with over 5 minutes over his closest competitor Mattia Cattaneo. This put him in second place in the overall classification only behind Tadej Pogacar, and the Australian would go on to be very consistent and strong throughout the rest of the Tour to finish in a breakthrough fourth place.

Come 2022, O'Connor won at the Volta a Catalunya taking the race lead on stage 3 but losing it the next day. He finished 6th in the GC, then won the Tour du Jura, and finished 5th at the Tour de Romandie. O'Connor placed a strong third position at the Criterium du Dauphiné that indicated his ambitions to fight for the podium at the Tour de France again, but he abandoned after a difficult first week. He returned to still finish 7th at the Vuelta a España. In 2023 he had a modest spring but then popped into top form once again at the Criterium du Dauphiné where he was third only behind Jonas Vingegaard and Adam Yates. But his GC ambitions at the Tour faded in the first week.

2024 was his star year. O'Connor opened the season with a win at the Vuelta a Murcia and a week later won at Jebel Jais at the UAE Tour. After race leader Jay Vine cracked in the final stage surprisingly at Jebel Hafeet it seemed as if O'Connor was heading to his first World Tour-level win, but he was beaten by Lennert van Eetvelt over just a few seconds. He went on to finish Tirreno-Adriatico in 5th, Tour of the Alps in 2nd and then rode a very consistent Giro d'Italia where he finished in fourth place.

He prepared for the Vuelta a España where he won stage 6 from the breakaway, once again with a massive lead of 4:33 over his closest rival, which led him to the race lead and red jersey. In some stages he looked in prime form, but the Australian was inconsistent and throughout the many mountain stages his lead to Primoz Roglic slowly faded. Eventually O'Connor lost it only on stage 19 up the Alto de Moncalvillo, but hung on to finish second in the final overall classification. He then helped Australia win the Mixed Relay TTT at the World Championships, before finishing second only to Tadej Pogacar in the road race, benefiting from great form and tactics in the hilly Zurich circuit.