"Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are just too good" - Ben O'Connor knows he cannot directly challenge the best GC riders in the world

Ben O'Connor was perhaps not the name many expected to break out past season, but the Australian climber did so with glamor, finishing runner-up at both World Championships and Vuelta a Espana. Despite the successful year in Decathlon jersey, O'Connor returns home to Jayco AlUla for 2025 campaign - which he hopes goes even better with Tour de France as the main objective.

The GC contender can look back on last year with pride, and he does so completely. "I look back on it with a smile," O'Connor said of last season at Wieler Revue. "Very few things went wrong and I was the best version of myself in almost all the races. Wearing the red jersey in the Vuelta was something very big for me, it was an honour to be the leader."

The 29-year-old O'Connor climbed into the top-5 of UCI rankings this year, but hopes to do even a step better in 2025: "Your level does not always correlate with your performance."

O'Connor gives the example of the World Championships in Zurich. "I was smart that day, because I was certainly not the second best rider in the race. And yet I still ended up taking the silver medal. That's cycling. On the other hand, I was sick in the final week of the Giro d'Italia. I could have finished on the podium there, and I could have won the UAE Tour. That makes me realise that next year could easily be even better."

Having finished in top-5 of GC of every single stage race O'Connor attended in 2024, maybe winning a big one is that far? Well, the Australian reminds that there are still few aliens who he can only look up to: "Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are just too good. On certain days I can come close, but I'm just not as physically talented as them. I don't plan my races based on what they do. You can do that, but for me too, the Tour de France is ultimately the pinnacle. I just want to be there. You just have to keep going, and hang out with such greats in the sport."