"Is that fairplay? I’m not so sure" - Ben O'Connor continues tirade against UCI after yellow card drama and aims shot at Cristian Rodriguez at La Vuelta 2024
Cycling
Stage 11 was not a good day for the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team. After Ben O'Connor suffered some more time loss in the fight for the Red Jersey, cutting his advantage in the general classification, the team were struck with a number of yellow cards from the UCI.
It all comes back to when the breakaway had formed and Decathlon put themselves across the road to attempt to block any counters, as teams do in almost every race ed. Sadly however, on this occasion, Richard Carapaz was pushed into a ditch, resulting in fury from EF Education Easy-Post boss Jonathan Vaughters on X afterwards.
Speaking of X, Ben O'Connor was forced to delete his social media account on Wednesday night after the immense response to his questioning of the UCI's punishment for his teammates, with a post. Despite his X blackout, O'Connor did talk to Eurosport about the incident ahead of stage 12.
"I really think we did absolutely nothing wrong," the Australian insisted again. "We’ve spoken to EF together and everything is clear – there was zero animosity. Geoffrey Bouchard really did absolutely nothing. I don’t really understand the sanctioning with the other boys in the team either because we really didn’t do anything wrong."
"I was also on the front but didn’t receive a yellow card, neither did Wout van Aert, who was also right next to me, so what does it mean? I really don’t get it," O'Connor continues. "He [Carapaz] may have hit the pedal or the wheel, but my team-mate [Lafay] did not move at all. He was there on the left – he didn’t swing left, he was just riding. It’s not very fair, to be honest."
Another flashpoint came immediately afterwards when Decathlon riders were seen visibly frustrated at Arkea - B&B Hotels' Cristian Rodriguez. "We told him that he was not going to get in the break. But he then attacked after Carapaz’s crash. He was on his wheel. He saw him crash, then he attacked," O'Connor recalls with a critical tone. "Is that fairplay? I’m not so sure."
At the end of the day Ben needs to worry about Friday and Sunday. He can be hot headed, he's young, it has happened to us all at some point. Let's see if he can win this Vuelta.
That's what Aussies do, we tell it like it is, no beating around the bush to cater to the whims of some riders who think they are better than others. Good on ya Ben!!!!!
Sure, that's what Aussies do: bully and pretend they are special...
Correct, we do have bullies in Australia, it's just that Ben O'Connor is not one of them.
I think that Ben has a lot to learn, and one of those things is how to be more diplomatic. Saying things like that will only work to serve against him in the long run.
He is 28, pretty sure the learning phase is over. More drama for Netflix
he doubled and tripled and quadrupled down on stupidity
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- When Vingo, Rogla, and Wout were all at the height of their powers, a sight to behold.mobk08-04-2025
- To quote the article: riders from Arkéa - B&B Hotels and a few others seized the moment to launch an attack, increasing the pace as Pogacar was briefly off the bike. Not coolmij08-04-2025
- I don’t think it was a matter of easing up. I think it was a matter of attacking. And MVDP said his team would respect similar situations. Perhaps not on the penultimate climb, but I believe they would. To accelerate is a jerk move.mij08-04-2025
- His basic attitude always has been (and we know age often reinforces inherent values), if I’m going down I’m going to try taking you with me.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- That’s probably about right although if they’d talked it over it would have been in all their interests to work together to chase Pog down because those 4 arriving at the finish in that scenario would have left all 4 with a chance of victory.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Exactly, that easily makes for a minute at the front. You don’t see Pog cracking often either (less often than MVDP even) but when he does it’s lights out and over too. This is completely normal and to be expected, at the level of competitiveness all these guys are they only crack once they’ve pushed beyond their manageable limit and there’s no coming back from that. When your rival forces you into the red to keep or catch up, it’s over, in that respect, well done to WVA who seems to be world champion in staying just outside the red for as long as he can.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- If I remember well, Pidcock slowed, whether out of respect or strategically or just happy he could ease off a bit, only he knows. Your point?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I believe Mathieu rather gets beaten by a stronger rider than one who raced smarter. That is why he wanted to team up with Pogacar to drop the JV riders and Mads who were not helping in the chase of the first group since they had a teammate up front.JoostMehrtens08-04-2025
- Just shows that LA is not truly repentant. JUSTICE was served. No winner, no second , no third on the podium for those 7 years. No real winners could be determined, ever. Lance got to keep most of his money , he really should can it . He is toxic to cycling.dave08-04-2025