Vuelta a Espana turned on it's head! Ben O'Connor wins stage 6 with solo breakaway attack and takes race lead from Primoz Roglic
Cycling
Ben O'Connor finished fourth at the Giro d'Italia but that was not enough warning for rival teams today at the Vuelta a España. The Australian rider was given freedom to join the breakaway in today's hilly stage and took the stage win as well as the race lead with several minutes over former red jersey Primoz Roglic.
A day where the breakaway was likely to win, it saw dozens of riders trying to form a breakaway early in the day. The GC riders also got in the mix, because last year Sepp Kuss won a lot of time on a similar day in the opening week and the riders knew of what could happen. No less than 30 riders went off the peloton early in the day before the first big climb, but eventually on the ascent several GC riders looked to bridge across and with them came a fast moving peloton.
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Eventually a quality group went up the road featuring Ben O'Connor, Florian Lipowitz, Cristián Rodríguez, Urko Berrade, Clément Berthet, Mauri Vansevenant, Marco Frigo, Jay Vine, Pablo Castrillo, Pelayo Sánchez, Gijs Leemreize and Luca Vergallito. A strong group, with threats to the GC mainly in O'Connor and Lipowitz. But the latter was a card for BORA, who didn't look to chase hard so as to help his ambitions.
Hence teams such as Bahrain - Victorious, UAE Team Emirates and Movistar helped with the collaboration during the day, but the reality is the gap wasn't under control. O'Connor was keen on attacking from the front group early on and with 62 kilometers to go he moved off the front of the group with Gijs Leemreize. The duo collaborated but the difference in climbing quality was big and on the penultimate climb of the day the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale went solo off the front of the race.
O'Connor was in a massive day. Although there wasn't a full-on chase in the peloton, the Australian kept increasing his gap throughout many kilometers including the final hilltop finish in Yunquera. He took the stage win in glory, and with it also the red jersey, taking over 6 minutes on the peloton. Marco Frigo and Florian Lipowitz were second and third on the day.
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