Vuelta a España leader Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) recognised he had anything but a straightforward day on the lung-burstingly steep final ascent in Cazorla Saturday. The Australian ceded nearly a minute to top pre-race contender Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and saw his overall advantage slashed to just under four minutes.
After the route turned sharply right at the foot of the five-kilometre final climb, O’Connor responded well to Roglič’s initial raising of the pace, and was constantly shadowing the Slovenian until almost halfway up.
But as Roglič pressed forward again and again, O’Connor abruptly crumbled. As he was passed by earlier victims of Roglic’s pressure, it looked as if O'Connor was in serious trouble.
Finally, O’Connor steadied the ship to the point where he limited the gap to 46 seconds and a 10-second time bonus. But while expectations that Roglič will try to make the most of his superiority on the climbs on Sunday’s far tougher stage have now rocketed, O’Connor looked to be on the back foot, and his seemingly unassailable advantage on GC more vulnerable than some expected.
“It was a bit of a letdown it wasn’t my best day,” O’Connor told reporters. “It’s on a par with all Grand Tours, there are always ups and downs. I’m still in the red jersey, so I’ll look back on this with an open mind. But I certainly didn’t want to lose that time.”
O’Connor played down the fact that teammate Felix Gall did not stick with him all the way to the finish.
"[The] team had been really good all day, and Felix waited for me on the climb, those last 200 metres [when he was alone] didn't matter. All in all, I’m very happy with the team.”
However, as he said in a different interview, he had once again suffered in the blisteringly-high temperatures, just like on stage 4 at Villuercas, where he lost around a minute to Roglič.
“It was just the heat, it’s so hot, it got to me today. Yesterday I didn’t feel it at all. It’s a bit frustrating to get cooked, but it happens to everybody at some point. It’s just a shame it happened today.”
O’Connor will be on much more familiar roads on Sunday in Sierra Nevada, where he has regularly been on altitude camp, and which he described as “up there with the most important days of the race.”
“It doesn’t finish on a summit but it’s going to be a fun one. Israel [Premier Tech] tried hard and Primož benefited. So at the end, the proof will be in the pudding.”
Outside the events of stage 8, O’Connor is riding his final Grand Tour with current team Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, moving to Jayco-AIUIa in 2025, and he was scathing when asked about other teams that opted not to take riders to the Vuelta if they are transferring to another squad.
“Teams that do that are stupid,” he stated blunted. “If the riders are still motivated - and they should be - you don’t pull out a parachute and go holiday. That’s not a way to give back what you’ve taken to a team.
“So I’m proud I’m here, in my last Grand Tour with the squad, maybe my last race with the team and this feels like the icing on the cake. I’ve taken some great results with them, but to lead a Grand Tour is pretty special. So I’m proud I’m not a guy who just pulls out a parachute and still gets his paycheck every month.”
O’Connor may have sounded downbeat after such a stinging defeat by Roglič, but just as rival teams badly underestimated his chances of succeeding on stage 6 by such a large time gap, stage 8’s setback is one battle in a much longer war.
Certainly, as a rider with his overall track record in Grand Tours, not to mention finishing fifth on the stage the last time the Vuelta finished in Sierra Nevada back in 2022, the Australian still has everything to play for on Sunday.
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