Tour de France cobbles strike fear into Ben O'Connor - "I will be sh**ting myself"

Ben O'Connor is one of the riders at the Tour de France who has had very little very taste of cobblestones throughout his pro career, but will today be faced with them with no option but to resist the attacks and the crashes that are expected if he wants to keep his GC ambitions alive.

Having crashed in the opening time-trial in Copenhagen, it was not the best start to the Tour de France for the leader of AG2R Citröen Team. However, sitting 41st in the GC 1:26 minutes behind Wout van Aert means he is very much alive and well into the possibility of improving last year's fourth place. “To best honest, I am OK. In 2018 most of the GC guys finished together, and I know Romain Bardet had something like five punctures and three changed bikes, and he finished 10 seconds behind," O'Connor pointed out in an interview with VeloNews.

“It’s more of a danger for crashing and crashing out of the race than actual time loss. It’s more of a question of finishing with the favorites. I am not too nervous now, but I will be shitting myself tomorrow," he said at the finale of stage four in Calais - the first day in France this edition.

O'Connor will have the support of experienced classics riders such as Oliver Naesen, Stan Dewulf and Bob Jungels. However many other teams will have luxury domestiques, but the French team will be prepared. “For me, it’s that, minimizing errors, not getting lost in the wind, trying not to crash, and getting into the mountains and doing what you can do,” he said.

“I know in the mountains I should be up there with the top guys," he concluded. However, the Tour de France is a 21-stage race and today will likely be one of the most crucial for O'Connor.