Tactical error or weakness? Alberto Contador weighs in on BORA's tactics on stage 6 of the Vuelta a Espana
Cycling
Ben O'Connor has hit hard in this Vuelta a España 2024. The Australian has already proven on more than one occasion that he is an elite climber and Grand Tour specialist. His big result was a fourth place in the overall classification of the 2021 Tour de France. In the sixth stage of the Grand Tour of the year, the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider put 6:32 into the group of favorites and took the leader's red jersey with a 4:51 lead over Primoz Roglic, his main pursuer.
After the race, Alberto Contador gave his opinion on Eurosport about what he had seen. The man from Pinto highlighted that Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe could have shown difficulties while Enric Mas' Movistar Team was the one that pulled the hardest to try to hunt down the 28-year-old cyclist.
"Concern at Red Bull - BORA. We saw the car they were saying it broke all our plans, we didn't expect it to be able to hold on like that," he said. The team had Florian Lipowitz in the breakaway and was reluctant to pull hard so as to benefit their rider - who in all fairness, climbed to fourth place in the GC and is now also a dangerous card for the upcoming weeks. But they were not expecting O'Connor to race as strongly as he did and build such a massive gap.
"They were calculating 3 minutes. It also strikes me that you are thinking that you can get more or less with three minutes but Movistar is pulling... What happens? What's going on, that Red Bull - BORA was going to the limit? Were they already at the limit with what's left of the Vuelta?" he questions. Aleksandr Vlasov and Daniel Martínez were not used in the stage, and stayed out of the wind saving themselves for future stages, definitely providing an argument that the German team still had more they could do to thin down the gap.
"Of course we have a very, very attractive Vuelta, today's was impressive. If you ride like Ben O'Connor did today it's because you're in great shape and they're going to have to sweat. They're going to have to sweat but on the other hand that's also going to translate into a show for us because they're going to have to attack," 'El Pistolero' concluded.
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- 🐐❤️Lozza09-11-2026
- This is such a black eye to women's professional cyclocross if this result remains. Marie Schreiber won this race fairly. This finish is not unlike others in cyclocross. Lots of moving around to get to the finish not to cut anyone off , but to generate a sprint on soft wide tires caked with mud and sand. This is not nearly the same as a road race between two riders sprinting to the finish on faster bikes and thinner firmer tires. The powers in charge need to use some common sense, reverse this result and remember this is Cyclocross not Road racing. Unbelievable. . .Zencycle09-11-2026
- Tis beyond your comprehension fine sir so best not to look on with blind eyes to THE GOATS greatness.
Brucegel09-11-2026 - McNulty winning was beneficial in ensuring the rainbow jersey would not remain winless
Front24209-11-2026 - Eccelente! That's 7 riders in total in Red Bull who come from the devo team, 8 if you include Lipo
Rafionain-Glas09-11-2026 - again, nothing is going to be resolved. it is a discussion board. I simply said I didn't see how MS impeded LBs sprint. the UCI doesn't care about my thoughts, and I am really not that emotionally invested in it.mij09-11-2026
- provoke change, lol. this is a discussion board. nothing is going to change by what I say here. just commenting that it didn't look like MS impeded Brand. beyond that not trying to go too deep.mij09-11-2026
- as excellent as maga rednecks chloe dygert (and quinn simmons)?Ketterechts09-11-2026
- so what i understand is: i left a comment calling out the endless author CVs for being an unnecessary flex of expertise, and you responded by lecturing me (and others) on discrimination and value systems. hats off to you. you definitely lost me!Ketterechts09-11-2026
- I just love the flood of Americans into the top ranks of world cycling. In addition to being studs on the bike, they all seem to be excellent emissaries for our country.Occam09-11-2026
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🕵️ La lectura de @albertocontador tras el final en Alto de las Abejas (Yunquera) 💬 "Nos queda una @lavuelta muy, muy atractiva. Este resultado se va a traducir en espectáculo porque van a tener que atacar" #LaVuelta24 | #LaCasadelCiclismo
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