Has Ben O’Connor just won the Vuelta a España? This is the unforeseen but entirely possible outcome of a wild, perplexing and unforgettable stage six of the 2024 race in which the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale man produced the ride of his life to complete the Grand Tour stage trilogy and not just inherit the leader’s jersey, but snatch it from the shoulders of Primož Roglič, wash it, dry it, iron it, and potentially hang it up in his wardrobe, never again to change owners.
Ahead of a stage that will take a long time to demystify, O’Connor was 1:56 adrift of Roglič. Not out of the running for red, but certainly not in anyone’s thoughts. At the end of a bizarre day that started next to the dairy aisle inside a Carrefour supermarket, the Australian has a lead of 4:51 over Roglič. This was not forecast to happen, and very possibly in two-and-a-half weeks’ time Roglič and his teammates will be reflecting that it shouldn't have happened.
Roglič had spoken about being open to relinquishing his lead – “It’s definitely an option,” he said – but surely not to O’Connor, a rider who has now won stages in the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España, and finished fourth at both the Giro and Tour. Sure, he doesn’t operate year-round at the same plains as Roglič and his fellow generational talents who typically share the wins around between them, but he is a GC rider, someone who could win a Grand Tour. What on earth were Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe doing?
The mountainous 185km stage looked primed to go the way of the breakaway, but Roglič, in a blasé moment he may already be regretting, admitted that he hadn’t studied what exactly lay in wait. Shorthand for: nothing too much to worry about. What transpired was a long fight to establish a large lead group, and when one finally went clear and stuck, there were four riders who were between 1:50 and two minutes behind Roglič, including his teammate Florian Lipowitz. Over the course of the following 100km, O’Connor would attack with dsm-firmenich PostNL’s Gijs Leemreize, and then drop the young Dutchman 28km from the line, finishing a quite remarkable 6:31 ahead of Roglič and the peloton. It was a devastating performance and one that has changed the complexion of the race entirely.
There’s a potent sense of déjà vu, too. On the sixth stage last year, Sepp Kuss overturned a 55 second deficit to then-leader Remco Evenepoel to move 2:39 ahead of him. And we all know who won the race a little over two weeks later. But O’Connor’s result is even better than Kuss’s 12 months ago. The American wasn’t yet in red after his escapade, but O’Connor already is. What’s more, O’Connor has a lead of almost five minutes. Five! This is Ben O’Connor we're talking about, for goodness sake. O’Connor, it must also be stated, has form for doing this. In 2021, he spectacularly won a stage of the Tour by more than five minutes, moving him up to second. He went on to finish fourth.
Red Bull, UAE Team Emirates and Movistar, the three leading teams in the hunt for red, had ample opportunity to reign O’Connor in, but they refused, riding along casually, blissfully aware but unbothered by O’Connor’s daylight theft. It was the sort of racing that many believe would arise if race radios were permanently banned. Had Red Bull voluntarily forfeited their walkie-talkies?
Dazed and understandably befuddled by what had unfolded, the 28-year-old O'Connor played down the scale of his achievement. “I was looking at the list of triple Grand Tour winners before this race started, and I’m proud to put my name on the list,” he said. “I guess I have the red jersey as well.” You guessed right, Ben. “It’s a once in a lifetime experience maybe. I’ll enjoy the moment.”
But is it really? What’s to say he can’t hold red for the next 15 stages? Quick maths suggests he’d lose an estimated 1:10 to Roglič in the final day 24km time trial in Madrid, meaning he needs to protect a lead of at least 3:40. He can do that. “Maybe, maybe not!” he laughed. “It depends on how I go in Cazorla and Granada [at the weekend]. It’s an excellent opportunity and I’ll saviour it as much as I can.” Red Bull and Roglič may well have just surrendered the Vuelta by waging a high-stakes gamble that O’Connor – the same Ben O’Connor who has twice almost finished on a Grand Tour podium – will crack. Their hand is deep in the fire pit and already burning. It’s a punt that could backfire embarrassingly.
