26/02/2024

"It's just a bit sh*t" - Ben O'Connor loses breakthrough UAE Tour title by 2 seconds

Ben O'Connor started off his 2024 season in great form, winning the Vuelta a Murcia and then the Jebel Jais summit finish at the UAE Tour. The Australian was close to winning the entire race in what would've been a very important GC triumph, but only two seconds stood in the way of that win.

“It's just a bit shit. We all knew how hard it was going to be in the winds and you never freewheel. You always make sure you are on the pedals and that's why I think for Van Eetvelt to get away there so strongly, was super impressive because we were all pretty fucked, if you're going to put it frankly," O'Connor shared with GCN. “He managed to stay away and none of us could really keep riding, because we were all so on the limit, you couldn't really keep it up.”

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O'Connor's AG2R began to pace up the climb to Jebel Hafeet and surprisingly dropped quickly and easily both Brandon McNulty and Jay Vine of UAE Team Emirates; first and third in the standings. Sitting second overall, O'Connor hence had a golden opportunity to capitalize on it. However the toughest climb of the week was yet to be climbed and the gaps were small to a few riders behind him in the GC.

“We were trying to control on the climb so that I could get up as far as I could without too much reactivity. In the end, it just didn't work out," he explains. Plenty attacks from Pello Bilbao, Max Poole and ultimately Van Eetvelt proved too much for the rest of the competition. The Belgian specifically flew up the mountain to win in impressive fashion, also taking the GC win.

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O'Connor still defended himself, riding into third on the day, but this was not enough to win the overall classification in the end. "The missing puzzle was me, I wasn't as good as I was hoping today and I'm just a bit sad about that. I'm proud of all the boys today and it was just me who let the whole thing down in the end," he concluded.

Nevertheless O'Connor put on another strong display and looks very good towards the Giro d'Italia which will be a big goal this season. Next on the schedule is Tirreno-Adriatico where among others, he will go face to face with Jonas Vingegaard.