Ben O'Connor

Australian road pro Ben O’Connor has proved himself to be a GC contender with strong climbing prowess. He was born in Western Australia near Perth on November 25, 1995 and entered his first bike race at the age of 17, a criterium near his home, and won. He rode for a local club team for two seasons and in 2015 that same team upgraded to Continental level as Navitas-Satalyst Racing Team. He finished in the top 20 at Tour of Qinghai Lake and caught the eye of Jayco-AIS World Tour Academy.

In 2016 he split time with the academy and another Australian Continental team, Avanti IsoWhey Sport, and the top results started to roll in - a stage win and GC title at New Zealand Cycle Classic, third at the U23 time trial national championships, and another pair of bronze-medal finishes at international stage races - Tour de Taiwan and tour de Savoie Mont Blanc.

He got the call to move up to the WorldTour level in 2017, riding four years with the Dimension Data programme and then a four-year contract with AG2R Citroën Team. His first year at the top level saw him focus on one-week stage races, where he finished fifth on GC with a stage victory at Tour of Austria and eighth on GC at Touro de Langkawi.

As a 22-year-old the next season, O’Connor won a stage and best young rider classification at Tour of the Alps and competed at the Giro d’Italia. He sat 12th overall in his first Grand Tour until a crash on stage 19 took him out of the race, resulting in a broken collarbone. But his performance as a climber impressed the Dimension Data management. The next season he completed the Giro and the Vuelta a España, taking a sixth place on the mountaintop finish at Santuario del Acebo on stage 15 in Spain.

His first Grand Tour stage victory came in 2020 in the re-worked year of the coronavirus pandemic when the Giro was held in October. He soloed to a win atop Madonna di Campiglio on stage 17 after getting into breakaways for three consecutive days, also scoring second on a hilly stage 16.

He signed a one-year deal with AG2R Citroën in 2021, earning top 10s in the overall at Tour de Romandie and Critérium du Dauphiné before a standout performance at the Tour de France. He won stage 9 in Tignes in the first week and then added to more top 10s on climbing days to jump to fourth overall by the time 21 days ended in Paris. The team signed him for three more years.

In 2022 his build-up to the Tour included a third on GC at Critérium du Dauphiné, as well as top 6 at Volta a Catalunya and top 5 at Tour de Romandie. But his Tour stalled nine days in with a torn glute muscle suffered in a crash. He returned for another Vuelta and finished eighth overall. 

In 2023, he had solid results across 67 race days but no individual victories. He took two stage podiums at the Tour, and supported teammate Felix Gall for eighth overall. 

Top results

2023

🥉Two stages at Tour de France

🥉Overall at Critérium du Dauphiné

2022

🥇 Tour du Jura Cycliste

🥉 One stage and GC at Critérium du Dauphiné

2021

🥇 One stage at Tour de France

Fourth GC at Tour de France

2020

🥇 One stage at Giro d’Italia

🥇 One stage at Etoile de Bessèges

🥈 One stage at Giro d’Italia