Stage 16 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana brought the race to the mythical slopes of Lagos de Covadonga. Although the climb didn't start well for race leader Ben O'Connor, the Australian battled bravely to limit his success and save the Red Jersey by just 5 seconds.
In fact, the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team leader's race lead was hanging so much in the balance, that according to a report by respected cycling journalist Daniel Friebe, O'Connor raced straight back down the mountain and into the team bus, delaying the post-stage presentations in the process.
"Ben O’ Connor appears to have gone AWOL…or at least apparently didn’t realise he still had red jersey & descended to team bus at bottom of final climb, bypassing podium. Hence, podium presentation delayed," wrote Friebe on his X before updating: "A bit more clarity: O’ Connor says he DID know he had kept jersey but thought podium presentation was 15km & not 500 metres from Covadonga summit, hence descended all the way (& then had to be driven back up). He wasn’t thrilled."
Once the post-stage ceremonies did finally begin however, the Australian race leader assessed a brutal day in the Spanish mountains. “Actually I didn’t think it was gonna be that bad today but in the end I saved the jersey so I guess it’s a nice silver lining going to the next two stages," O'Connor evaluates. "So I just gotta enjoy it to the max because I’m not sure I’ll be having it in Madrid. Aussie cycling is always producing the goods and it’s cool to see us fighting off at the front,” concluded O'Connor, referring to compatriot Jay Vine, who finished the day leading the King of the Mountains classification, following the sad abandonment of Wout van Aert after a nasty crash on a slippery descent.
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