"Pretty dumb" to give proven Ben O'Connor such a big advantage at La Vuelta believes Philippa York - "Alarm bells ought to have been ringing in Roglic's ear"

The first week of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana has reached a conclusion and with 9 stages in the legs, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team's Ben O'Connor sits atop the general classification with a nearly four minute advantage.

The reason for the Australian's hefty lead in the GC? A breakaway raid on stage 6 that saw O'Connor gain over six and a half minutes on the likes of Primoz Roglic and Co. "After the opening weekend of this year’s Vuelta, Primoz Roglic looked in control. He was best placed of the GC men in the opening time trial before winning the first summit finish and his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team were happy with the outlook. In fact, happy enough to consider letting a lesser rider take over the overall lead if the opportunity presented itself," reflects Philippa York for Cycling News.

Despite the entire cycling world knowing what happened last year when Sepp Kuss was given a similar leeway from an early break at the Vuelta a Espana, no one seems to have learned their lesson. "Last year was an example of miscalculation, not that Sepp Kuss isn’t a good rider he just wasn’t considered to be ‘that’ good," York recalls. "Therefore when Ben O’Connor slipped himself into the early break on stage 6 a few alarm bells ought to have been ringing in Roglic's ear."

"He might have been struggling on that first mountaintop finish, however fourth at the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia signifies a high degree of talent and to give him a lead of almost five minutes would be pretty dumb but somehow that was allowed to happen," she continues. "The race tactics for everyone changed after the Yunquera result, not just for Roglic who has to pass from defending to attacking but also for all the other podium hopefuls who were at a minute or so and now are six minutes behind."

"They are all aware that Ben O’Connor with his current advantage isn’t going to be easy to topple, instead, it will be a long drawn-out process of wearing him and his Decathlon team down," York assesses and with the Australian just short of four minutes clear, it's hard to disagree. "In the peloton, all the pressure will be on Decathlon Ag2r la Mondiale not to show any collective weakness that could put Ben O’Connor under more pressure. He will have taken a lot of comfort from his showing on stage 9 into Granada, but he knows that one incident and the others will pounce."