Stage 13 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana brings with it a very tough day in the high mountains, capped off with a brutal summit finish atop Puerto de Ancares. For Ben O'Connor and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, it's set to be a potentially decisive day in their fight to hold onto the Red Jersey.
Ben O'Connor's key man in the mountains will be Felix Gall, who himself is still nicely nestled into the top 10 of the general classification after 12 stages. Having helped guide his team leader through a relatively uneventful day on Thursday, the Austrian began to brace himself for the work he will likely need to do on Friday afternoon.
"The final climb was quite OK: it was rolling, and we controlled the pace," Gall reflected in his interview after stage 12, where the breakaway, through Equipo Kern Pharma's Pablo Castrillo took the stage win and the GC men kept their powder dry, waiting for stage 13. "I was expecting Bora to try something. At one moment it seemed like they would. But in the end, it was easy."
It won't be easy on stage 13 however, something Gall has no illusions about. "I think you can also feel that the fatigue is setting in now in the whole bunch," the former Tour de France stage winner admits, explaining the lack of GC fighting on stage 12. "Everybody was happy to let the small break go."
"The last two days were really hard, and I think tomorrow (Friday ed.) is going to be a super hard day as well for the GC riders," Gall concludes his post-stage 12 assessment. "The most important day in this week so far."
With more than three minutes advantage over Primoz Roglic, O'Connor does have some time to play with, but with plenty more mountains and GC challenges to come, more time loss would be far from ideal for the Australian's hopes.
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