Ben O’Connor, an Australian, won stage six of the Vuelta a Espana on Thursday, completing his collection of victories in all three Grand Tours of cycling. He also grabbed the lead overall when his solo run left everyone behind.
Initially, O’Connor was a part of a breakaway group, but with 28 kilometers remaining and the penultimate climb ahead, the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale rider opted for solo glory, punching the air in celebration as he crossed the finish line.
“I think it was beautiful racing all around,” O’Connor remarked.
“I was looking at the guys who had completed the Triple Grand Tour before this race started, and my name is now on that list,” the driver said.
After O’Connor by four minutes and 33 seconds, German Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) finished third, followed by Italy’s Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech).
Primoz Roglic, the three-time champion, led the general classification at the start of the day, but O’Connor overtook the Slovenian in the red jersey when he finished the peloton six minutes and thirty-one seconds behind the winner.
After a superb performance on the 185.5-kilometer stage from Jerez de la Frontera to Yunquera, O’Connor now leads Roglic by four minutes and 51 seconds. Joao Almeida is in third place, eight seconds behind O’Connor.
The new leader remarked, “I guess I have the red jersey as well, so maybe it’s a once in a lifetime experience, so I’m going to enjoy every moment.”
Eddie Dunbar was 33rd overall and tied for 31st place for Team Jayco Alula, six minutes and 31 seconds behind the leader. Darren Rafferty placed 93rd overall and 85th in the finish.
The riders began the stage in an unusual way—they started inside a Carrefour supermarket—and less than sixty kilometers into the race, they had to navigate a category one hill.
By then, the peloton had launched multiple attacks, resulting in the escape of a sizable group consisting of over thirty riders. However, with 70 km remaining, the group of 13 riders managed to close the distance to five minutes.
After dropping the others on the second hill, O’Connor and Gijs Leemreize pushed ahead of the Dutch rider to win the stage. The Australian had previously won stages at the Tour de France in 2021 and the Giro d’Italia in 2020.
Roglic and Red Bull were more focused on energy conservation this early in the race, and they did have Lipowitz ahead in the break, but they might live to regret letting O’Connor lead by such a large margin.
O’Connor, who placed fourth in both the Tour de France in 2021 and the Giro this year, entered the Vuelta with the intention of placing third, but after establishing such a sizable lead, he might now have even higher goals in mind.
O’Connor remarked, “It depends on how I do in Cazorla and Granada, but it’s a great opportunity, so I’m just going to enjoy it as much as I can.”
The seven-stage ride on Friday runs 180.5 km from Archidona to Cordoba.
Be the first to comment