"It's not just about Tadej Pogacar" - After Vuelta heroics and mixed relay TTT gold, can Ben O'Connor take Rainbow Jersey?

Australia's Ben O'Connor has been one of the stars of the second half of the 2024 season. After putting in a heroic performance at the Vuelta a Espana to take home a stage victory and a career best 2nd overall, the 28-year-old helped his nation secure mixed relay TTT gold in Zürich on Wednesday afternoon.

O'Connor's main goal at the 2024 World Championships however, remains the men's elite road race. "It's a tough course. It's more technical than it might look on paper, so I'm curious to see how that's going to be in the peloton," he previews from the mixed relay. "At times it's quite narrow. If things are going to be on the elastic, I'd like to see how that goes. In Quebec, for example, you can be in the last wheel until two laps from the end, but it's different at every circuit."

Alongside O'Connor in the mixed relay were the likes of Michael Matthews and Jay Vine. That trio, combined with Chris Hamilton, Jai Hindley, Harry Sweeny, Michael Storer and Nick Schultz complete a strong Australian team for the men's road race. "We are not only focusing on Michael, but have several men who can go far," O'Connor says confidently. "Jai Hindley is there, myself and Jay Vine also cut us off in the Mixed Relay. So we can participate with several guys, in different ways."

The competition is set to be incredible fierce however, most notably coming in the form of Giro d'Italia and Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar. In O'Connor's opinion though, it could be a foolish move to concentrate too hard on the Slovenian. "It's not just about Pogacar. Remco Evenepoel has an equally big record in one-day races, so I think we have to look at more men. We have to play to our strengths and maybe do something that doesn't seem normal. We just have to fly into it and make a nice race," he concludes. "The first week after the Vuelta was really bad, I've never felt so bad physically after a Grand Tour. In the second week I felt like something had run over me, I was so tired all the time. But here (mixed relay ed.) it went well, so I'm ready for the one race I still have this year."