It’s been a big year for Ben O’Connor. The 28-year-old West Australian became a father for the first time in June and, on the bike, 2024 has been the best season of his career. He won his first race of the year, he won a stage and finished second overall at the UAE Tour, and he was fourth at the Giro d’Italia.
Just last week O’Connor added another huge result to his growing palmares, finishing second overall at the Vuelta a España after a big solo stage win on stage 6. That win saw O’Connor join an exclusive group of riders to have won a stage of all three Grand Tours, and landed him in the red jersey of Vuelta leader for no fewer than 13 stages. He eventually lost the lead to Primož Roglič on stage 19 –as Roglič rode to a record-equalling fourth Vuelta title – but held on to second to secure his first Grand Tour podium.
Now back in his European base of Andorra, O’Connor took the time to speak to Escape about his best-ever Grand Tour result, in what was likely his final race for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale (he’s heading to Jayco AlUla in 2025 on a two-year deal). The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Matt de Neef: How’s the last few days been? What have you been up to?
Ben O’Connor: I’m a bit buckled, to be honest. Monday was coming back from Madrid, slow morning, quite a few brews, then travelled back here to Andorra. Went for lunch the next day – me, my wife, and her mother as well.
Otherwise, that’s honestly been about it – not really much else. I’ve been pretty tired and can’t really get too far into the evenings. I’ve been back in bed at 8:30pm the last couple of nights. This morning I feel much, much better, so maybe I’ve gone past the worst of the fatigue so far.
MdN: How’s dad life treating you?
BO: Definitely takes a while to get used to. It’s a big change to have to do things when you don’t really want to, you know what I mean? Normally you’re in charge of your own destiny, especially as an athlete. It’s definitely a pretty big change in that regard. It sounds a bit selfish, but that’s really how athletes run.
So it takes getting used to. She looks around a lot more now than when I left for the Vuelta, and she can look at you. She definitely watches you, and that’s the nicest thing.
MdN: She’s what, three months old now?
BO: Mid June, so getting there. But she was quite a few weeks premature, so she’s still a little behind, probably, on the schedule of things. But she’s very cute.
MdN: Congrats on the Vuelta – that was amazing. What’s the feeling like for you now, a few days afterwards, now that the dust has settled a little?
BO: To be honest, I ticked off quite a few things that I wanted to do just in this one Grand Tour. I won a stage, so that’s the ‘victory in each Grand Tour’ box ticked. I wore a Grand Tour leaders jersey, not only for a day, but I wore it for two weeks. So that’s also another amazing thing. And then I finished on the podium, especially being second. So the only thing that’s better than that is winning the race overall. It doesn’t really get any better than that.
So it’s quite a few achievements all rolled into one, and it’s so satisfying because you’re really fulfilled. I’m just full, to be honest – there’s not really much more I could have asked of myself going into the race and then leaving it, it’s pretty special.
MdN: We see athletes set lofty goals all the time and it feels rare to see riders achieve them as comprehensively as you did at the Vuelta. Do you have a sense of that; of the significance of what you’ve been able to achieve?
BO: Yeah, I think you’re always aware that you’re good, you know, but I think that – this sounds naive – it’s really solidified that you are a good cyclist. I’ve now been top five of each Grand Tour. I’ve won a stage of each Grand Tour. This year, in terms of World Tour stage races, I haven’t finished less than fifth for the whole year. UAE was second, Tirreno[-Adriatico] I was fifth, Giro [d’Italia] fourth, Vuelta second. It’s super consistent and really well executed and I’ve performed really well the whole way throughout the year.
And that’s just looking at this year. I mean, look at what I’ve done also in the past. It’s pretty nice to know that you do get to play in the professional world of sport and actually be a big player in it. Because a lot of cycling isn’t like that. *Laughs*
MdN: Tell me a bit about your win on stage 6. From the outside you seem like a rider that sometimes has these days where you can do things that are just absolutely incredible. Did it feel like that to you on the day? Did it feel like everything just lined up perfectly for you, or did it just feel like another good day, rather than an exceptional day?
BO: At the start of the day, I spoke to my coach and I was like, “Look, if there’s a pretty decent break, I wouldn’t mind being part of it. Just, why not?” Because when I came into the race, I wanted to do top five overall, but I’d already been pretty good in the Giro, and I’d kind of already signed for Jayco [AlUla] as well, so I wouldn’t say I had GC pressure, if that makes sense. And actually, I was like, “You know what? Just for this day …” – I don’t know what it was about me, but I was like “I want to win today.” I really wanted to be in the mix to try to win, especially because on stage 4, I got pumped. I was really fried with the heat.
So this break went [on stage 6] and I wasn’t part of it, and I was real angry at myself. I remember shouting a little bit, and my teammate was like “What’s wrong?” I said “For sure, I can win today. I should be in that break. I’m like, real pissed. I’m telling you now, if it goes again, I’m gonna jump across.” And then, yeah, it kicks off again, and you find yourself in this situation, where you’re off the front, and these days seem to work pretty well for me.
I mean, in Tignes, in the Tour of France [when O’Connor won solo on stage 9 of the 2021 edition, by more than five minutes, in his debut Tour – ed.] it was different because it was big mountains and the weather, but climbs where it’s not crazy steep … it kind of reminds me of doing a stage in the center of France in the Tour – I was third in a stage last year, with [Pello] Bilbao. Similar one with fast climbs, you’re always on the pace, everyone’s a bit cooked, it’s hard all day.
And then, yeah, [stage 6 of the Vuelta] just kind of rolled on, and I felt like a bit of a man on a mission. That’s definitely the best form of racing, and definitely the most enjoyable form of racing that you can be a part of. You really take it to the race and it’s a really nice feeling.
MdN: When you got into the red jersey after stage 6 were you thinking “Right, I’m going to try to win this thing now”, or did you have the podium as a goal, or were you just taking it day by day?
BO: I didn’t think I was gonna win because of the way the rest of the climbs were in the race. And I actually only thought that it would be possible [to reach the podium] depending on how the stage into Granada went, which then went very well, but that’s further along in the story [stage 9, finishing in Granada, was a mountainous day won by Adam Yates. O’Connor didn’t just maintain his overall lead – he finished third on the stage, taking four bonus seconds to extend his lead over Primož Roglič – ed.]
In the end, it was like, “Man, this is a sweet opportunity to be on the podium”, because to gain back that much time … There was a lot of mountaintop finishes in this Vuelta a España. But if you even it out to be like 30 seconds per mountaintop, they have to take that every single time, every single mountaintop, and it’s not like I’ve been someone who loses time on mountaintop finishes that often.
In the end, it was pretty tight, and I had some pretty average days. I had some days where I did amazing power, but it just wasn’t enough, you know? There wasn’t a time I thought I was going to win the race overall, but I always knew that with this gap, to be on the podium would definitely be something that’s completely realistic, if I stayed consistent.
MdN: Do you think they underestimated you on stage 6, giving you that much time? What do you think happened there?
BO: I think it was very much a typical pro cycling thing of “We’re not going to pull so you pull.” “I don’t want to pull, so you have to pull.” And then no one actually committed. And as [Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe sports director] Patxi Vila said, things just got out of hand.
I don’t really understand why teams weren’t more committed. You’ve got teammates for a reason. And yeah, I have heard from multiple guys it was pretty hard in the bunch, but it wasn’t the easiest terrain to chase on, either. The descents were super slippery, but yeah, maybe it was a sense of “Look, he hasn’t been super good. He hasn’t really raced since the Giro. So we’ll get the time back eventually.” Maybe it was a little bit of that, but I’ll take it. *Laughs*
MdN: For the next few weeks, did it feel like you were being stalked by Roglič? Like he was trying to take time wherever he could, and you were just holding on? Did you feel that pressure constantly?
BO: Yeah, anyone who gets the jersey via a breakaway, I feel like that’s probably the scenes that you’re gonna cope with. You either get it from a ‘hand the jersey over’ breakaway, or you get it from racing GC at the front and being the strongest on a couple of mountaintops and say a time trial. And then you find yourself in the jersey.
I kind of found it in a different way. It wasn’t really handballed off to me – at least that’s not what I thought. I was trying for GC, but I wasn’t the strongest guy, so then you kind of found yourself in a weird scenario where you were not the strongest GC guy on this kind of terrain, this kind of Vuelta a España, so you were kind of always going to be attacked, and that’s just the nature of it.
So it was very much a case of you race fully defensively the whole time, because I didn’t have any other choice. *Laughs*
MdN: It was your first time leading a Grand Tour. What was it like being in red for 13 days with all the press commitments, the anti-doping – all the other stuff that comes along with leading a big race?
BO: Eventually it becomes a bit of a routine, a bit of a rhythm. I didn’t get back to the hotel that much later than the boys because of how long the transfers were. I guess the one thing you do miss is having a shower straight after the stage as a bit of a reset, to have a calming effect on you.
The press wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t too overwhelming. I guess having [doping] control every day – that was just super annoying. Every single day you had to make sure that you were well hydrated, not only for racing itself, but so you could pee after the race, otherwise you have to wait there for, who knows – some people it’s half an hour, other people it’s an hour and a half. So that’s another thing on top.
I definitely have a newfound respect for guys leading Grand Tours, especially for a long, long time, because it’s definitely not simple. Then you have the whole reception as soon as you get outside from where the presentation is – there’s hundreds of kids and people shouting for you and your signature, and you stop for one person, and all of a sudden there’s 20 or 30 people around you straight away. And it’s that kind of stuff that you have to learn to try to block out and try to take in your stride. But it is still a lot, you know?
MdN: What are you most proud of from your Vuelta?
BO: Oof. I’m proud that I never exploded too badly, to be honest. Because especially in that third week, Covadonga [stage 16 finishing with the climb to Lagos de Covadonga – ed.], I felt like I actually did some good rides, numbers-wise. But it just wasn’t good enough. I managed to hang on each time and that final kilometre or final two kilometres, I didn’t absolutely detonate where I lost lots and lots of minutes. So that’s probably the thing I’m most proud of, from a personal point of view.
Otherwise, I’d say the way our team actually rode, to be honest. I think we were really, really good. There were not that many complete, strong teams in the race. I think we were one of the few teams that actually could control the breakaways at the start of the race. Nothing really got out of hand and we never found ourselves in a situation where we had to patch up an absolutely huge error. So I think the fact that you never really saw us doing silly chasing shows that we were able to do a really, really good job in guiding how the race would play out.
Because remember, the breakaway fight was at least an hour every single day, and I think our boys were able to deal with that day in, day out for almost two weeks. So that’s probably the second thing I’m most proud of.
MdN: There’s a cool quote on your team website, from you after the race, where you said this result made you think you could maybe win a Grand Tour one day. You spoke before about the different ways you can end up in a leader’s jersey. If you were able to win a Grand Tour one day, how do you think that would happen?
BO: Ooof. I think if I look at how the Giro went, I think in the end, Danny [Martínez], G [Geraint Thomas] and I were pretty evenly matched, to be honest. I was super sick in the last week, so I was kind of falling apart. But in this scenario, I felt like, if Pog [Tadej Pogačar] had something go wrong … Everyone gets sick, everyone gets caught up in a crash one day, it just happens. It’s just what happens in Grand Tours. So I feel like in a situation like this, it’s probably the only way that you can win a Grand Tour.
MdN: Are you the sort of person that is able to sit back and really appreciate what you’ve achieved over the last three weeks, and this season in general, or are you more like “Right. That’s great. I did all those things. Now, what’s the next thing?”
BO: No, it’s too soon. *Laughs* I’ve got Worlds coming up in a couple weeks, and I just need to make sure I get to the end of the season, keep on riding, get to that point. At the end of the year remember we’re changing teams – it’s a whole new structure you then have to start with. So it’s not only your own personal aspiration that you have to look towards; it’s a whole new atmosphere, new team, new setup that you then have to learn.
So I guess in the end, the simple thing is, I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing now. I enjoy it, I really loved this Vuelta a España and I’d love to be in that position more so that I can be on the podium of Grand Tours and WorldTour stage races in general. I don’t need to get too far ahead of myself and be like “I finished second. Alright Benno, you’ve gotta go now and win the Giro or the Tour.” That’s just not really realistic – you don’t just all of a sudden change into a superhuman, and then you can do things on your whim.
So, no, I’m not looking too much further ahead of what exactly I’m going to do, because, in the end, I haven’t actually really thought about what my season is going to be like next year. I just want to finish this one and enjoy the time off, because it’s been a pretty crazy year, to be honest, for a number of reasons. Not just for cycling reasons.
MdN: You mentioned Worlds there – have you got other races with Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale before the end of the season?
BO: Normally not. Normally La Vuelta was my final race with the team. So to wrap it up with the boys like that was super cool. I think that’s kind of fitting after the last four years, to end on such a high. Because my career has changed since being on the team, and changed for the better. I learned a lot, and then to manage to guide myself, and also the boys, through to them being on the podium, second in La Vuelta, is a pretty great moment.
Because remember, they all have to buy in. The breakaways were winning most of the days, and the boys did not go in the breakaway. They sacrificed their chances to make sure that we as a team ended up on the podium. And I think that’s something that a lot of people probably don’t recognise.
Because it must be hard for these guys, who are strong, to watch breakaways go and win at the end, because they’re fighting for a cause that is a team cause, but doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best cause for them. Because they could get in the breakaway, they could go win a stage, and then it says on the headline, “[Bruno] Amirail, [Clément] Berthet, Victor Lafay wins stage of Vuelta a España.” And it’s not only that attached to it – there’s also financial benefits and contract stuff, you know what I mean? There’s a lot more going on. So to have a team buy into it, as your final race with the team is – it means a lot more than you think.
MdN: And particularly given it is your last race with the team – I think there’s a lot of riders that in your position would have maybe kicked the clutch in …
BO: *Laughs* You could definitely pull the parachute and be like “I don’t actually need to work that hard.” It doesn’t mean you’re not going to go for a stage or something, but to do GC in particular is definitely another step.
It’s mentally hard, it’s physically super taxing, you can never switch off. You just want to sit up, but you can’t. And if you’re not in the right mindset for it, you will never, ever be able to do it, because you have to just kind of grit it out every single day. And that takes an extra little layer. *Laughs*
MdN: One final question – and definitely the most important question of this entire chat – are you heading back to Perth for a home Road Nationals early next year?
BO: At the moment, I honestly don’t know. I may be going back, I may not. We do just have a newborn so it’s more actually family-orientated on whether we want to organise and sort all it out, rather than actually wanting to go back and do Nationals. Because, for sure, I want to do it. But at the moment, I don’t really know – it’s very much 50-50.
MdN: Pretty sweet that it’s heading to Perth though, right?
BO: I mean, it’s gonna be a sweet reception there. I haven’t been to Melbourne for early morning bunchy rides for a long time, but I can tell you now, Perth is unbelievable for the amount of people on bikes early in the morning. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place in my life where I’ve seen this many road cyclists out riding every single morning. It’s just constant.
It’s a great city to ride, cycling’s really well received. I think there’s going to be a lot of people. I just hope that a lot of riders from the eastern states don’t just complain and don’t actually make the trip over, because it’s a beautiful place to ride. We as West Australians have travelled to the eastern states our whole careers when we were young and yeah it’s not as simple as you’d want, but for the love of cycling, I think it’s worthwhile to be part of the event.
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