Lance Armstrong gives key reason why Ben O'Connor can win the 2024 Vuelta a Espana: "He can handle the heat"
CyclingWednesday, 28 August 2024 at 10:33
Lance Armstrong is back with his podcast The Move to analyze the first week of the Vuelta a Espana 2024. Along with his regular contributors, George Hincapie and Johan Bruyneel, they assessed what happened in the first days of competition in the Spanish Grand Tour, highlighting the brutal victory of American Brandon McNulty in the opening time trial at an inhuman pace of 47 km/h.
Of the first days of the Vuelta, the heat was notable and Armstrong pointed out that leader Ben O'Connor grew up in an arid area in his native Australia and that this may help him ride more comfortably in the remainder of the Vuelta: "He's the story of this Vuelta a España considering he's leaving the team at the end of the season," begins Armstorng. "Ben O'Connor is from Perth, in Australia, I've never been there, but it's hot. We talked about the heat, if he can handle it, if he can handle the heat. He's grown up in a very hot area. That doesn't guarantee that someone can take the heat, but he's been exposed to it."
Johan Bruyneel spoke about the heat of the Spanish Tour and possible solutions to stop this from happening in the future, such as the Vuelta being held entirely in September and not more than half of it in August as in recent years:
"The heat has been incredible, they started in Portugal and then there have been 5 stages in the south, all this combined with the fact that we are at the end of August causes temperatures ranging between 37 and 40 degrees," asseses Bruyneel. "If you combine the end of August with cities like Seville, Cordoba or Granada is something that is not good".
O'Connor has a commanding GC lead after 10 stages
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Apr 06, 15:11
0
Popular news
Latest comments
- Jonas is a very solid descender. Remember him waiting for Pog when Pog crashed on a descent in 2022mobk05-05-2025
- For Pogi's first win against Jonas, he had a very subpar team relative to Jumbo. I don't think Jonas would have stood a chance if he had Pogi's team that year.Veganpotter05-05-2025
- He descended very well at the TdF last year after the first couple stages with technical descents.Veganpotter05-05-2025
- The funny thing about all of this is that Pogi can(that doesn't mean he definitely will) win the TdF while it's only one of many goals. Jonas is fully focused on the TdF. Yes, he does other races but they're solely in preparation for the TdF. Jonas is great, but much of the reason he has a fighters chance is that Pogi isn't a rider that's fully focused on stage races.Veganpotter05-05-2025
- Yates- when he is on - is pretty awesome to watch.
ScottG05-05-2025 - Jonas is afraid of crashing. That's not easy to shake. I think that fear has only gotten worse over the years.ScottG05-05-2025
- Healy will also be a contender in the hilly classics. That's it though.ScottG05-05-2025
- It remains a team sport, and either teams or injuries have determined the outcomes since 2022. In '22, UAE lost many team members due to covid, earlier than Jumbo Visma did, and that left Pogacar unprotected. In '23, Pogacar was injured at Liege, and that affected his training. In '24, Vingegaard was injured, Kuss and van Aert were a shadow of their '22 selves, and Roglic was gone from the team. So the question is, can Yates, Almeida, Novak, and the rest protect Pogacar, and will Kuss and the rest show up as they need to? Sure, it's the last climb that pits the two superstars against each other, and Pogacar (as we've seen with van der Poel) doesn't always win when he's got a challenger there. This year, if Vingegaard's concussion hasn't affected things too much, I think it will come down to the teams they bring.RidesHills05-05-2025
- I wonder if they meant "uphill sprinting like Roglic is known for." Probably not, but maybe?RidesHills05-05-2025
- Yates-Ayuso cage match? Could be interesting.mobk05-05-2025
I was wondering why Adam Yates did so well in the searing heat on Stage 9.
Thanks to Professor Armstrong I now understand that it's because of the climate in Bury, Greater Manchester.
That is some seriously deep analysis! Profound even!
Go Ben! Another Australian Grand Tour winner would be great. I dare to dream.
Maybe LA Doper can lend some insight on which PEDs helped get him through the hot stages of the tours!
What's that got to do with Ben O'Connor? You saying he might need the supplements?
It's a riff on LA Doper only. Nothing against Ben.
PED's don't help you with the heat, only training in it does. It can be 105 and I can be climbing a mountain full gas and eating a greasy cheeseburger, but I'm used to it, if you know you know lol
It was sarcastic comment against the Doper Supreme …nothing more, nothing less
lol he was the supreme doper for sure.
Was? You think he's not dope anymore with that baseball cap turned backwards!?
He looks like Steve Buscemi as an undercover narc. He is definitely still a fool and a junkie. An old out of touch junkie fool.
https://youtube.com/shorts/_sH-o4Vww0Q?si=v_Tf7mhR-3py1sC6
If Ben can get through next tuesday with 1min 45sec left on his lead he wins the Vuelta, I don't think he gets past Sunday in the jersey though, if we're being realistic he probably loses it by Saturday. I hope I'm wrong, I like pulling for the underdog.
What about 1m 44sec ?
Just making a point, he can't get to the last two mountain finishes and the last tt with less than 1m45s. He'll need all of that time.
What is the science behind your exactly 1 min 45 sec number?
If he gets through next tuesday in red he will still need about two minutes if he wants to win this Vuelta, don't forget, there is a TT still to come and two more mountain top finishes in the third week.
Not much science behind the number, just common sense and understanding how he has performed in the past.
That's if he gets through the next five mountain stages in the jersey, it's a big ask.