“He doesn't out climb Tadej or Jonas, so instead of playing a conservative game, he has a different tactic” - Jayco AlUla boss on how Ben O'Connor can get Grand Tour success

After finishing 4th at the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the past, Ben O'Connor finally cracked the Grand Tour podium at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana, finishing 2nd behind Primoz Roglic. As the Australian moves to Team Jayco AlUla in 2025, can he get himself on the top step of a Grand Tour podium?

The signing of O'Connor comes at the perfect time for Team Jayco AlUla, having just lost their previous Grand Tour leader Simon Yates to Team Visma | Lease a Bike. “We had to have a back-up plan ready to go,” Matt White director of High Performance and Racing at Team Jayco AlUla explains to Cycling News. “So we were already looking around the market to see who was available and who would be a good fit for the team. Obviously, Ben's name came up to the top of our list.”

“His consistency is something that really attracted us to him and I still don't think he has reached his potential,” White continues. “Until this year we'd seen flashes of brilliance, obviously with the fourth place in the Tour de France and some other big results here and there, but this year he managed to put a really, really consistent year together.”

The fact O'Connor also brings an Australian face to the Aussie-based outfit is also an added bonus. "We've never had an Australian leader of the team in the General Classification, so that obviously is attractive to us as well,” notes White.

In 2025, the Tour de France is set to the main goal for the 29-year-old. Given the immense quality of the current list of Maillot Jaune contenders, improving on his 4th overall from 2024 won't be easy for O'Connor. “The focus for Ben is going to be the Tour de France but it doesn't matter what he does in the spring, the two favourites for the Tour de France are going to be Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar. So no one's looking for Jayco-AlUla to control the Tour de France are they? So you can take a different team to finish third, fourth or fifth at the Tour de France than when you are trying to win it,” previews White. “He doesn't out climb Tadej or Jonas, most people in the world can't do that, so instead of playing a conservative game ‘follow, follow, follow’ he has a different tactic. He throws it out there, rides aggressively and looks for opportunities where a lot of other GC guys don't, which is a great talent to have and an exciting way to race.”

”We're definitely planning on hitting the ground running and I think Ben will slide straight into leadership here very well,” White concludes. ”I think we've got some good, good guys we can put around him immediately, and we'll try to sort of run a couple of those key riders around him quite regularly so by the time we do get to the Tour it will be with a bit of synergy there already.”