At long last, Ben O’Connor’s custody of the red jersey at the Vuelta a España has ended. Thirteen stages and just over two weeks since first taking it from Primož Roglič following a stunning, career-defining solo breakaway win at Yunquera, the Australian today handed it back to that same man after being dropped on the summit finish of Alto de Moncalvillo. Having chipped away at the lead throughout the past two weeks, so much so that it had fallen from 4:51 to a mere five seconds, this passing of the jersey to Roglič had begun to feel inevitable. And, indeed, the Slovenian now leads the race by a comprehensive 1:54 with an early attack on the climb that dropped not just O’Connor but every other rival.
While his dreams of holding on all the way to Madrid and claiming overall victory had been diminishing fast since being badly dropped on Puerto de Ancares last week, O’Connor’s time in the red jersey has nevertheless been one of the central stories that has made this Vuelta such a thrilling race.
This scenario, of an outsider surprisingly taking a big lead in the GC and attempting to limit their losses and defend the jersey from hoards of increasingly panicky top favourites, does not happen too often at Grand Tours – but when it does, the racing is always memorable. Just think back to the 2019 Tour de France, when Julian Alaphilippe carried the dreams of a nation when he defied the odds to wear the yellow jersey up until stage 19 when he succumbed to Egan Bernal. Or further back still, to 2011, when one of cycling’s great entertainers and personalities, Thomas Voeckler, gurned his way into a ten stage-stint in yellow before finally reaching his waterloo at the point, stage 19.
The 2010 Giro d’Italia was also one of the most exciting Grand Tours of this century, and again shaped by a lack of control and dangerous break gaining over twelve minutes during the second week. First, a young Richie Porte held the pink jersey, then the steady but unspectacular David Arroyo, before a tense battle over the rest of the race until he eventually ceded it to Ivan Basso on — you guessed it — stage 19. And whereas all of these cases ended in heartbreak for the underdog, in 2006, Oscar Pereiro did succeed in winning the Tour de France following a similar big mid-race breakaway (albeit only retrospectively, when Floyd Landis was disqualified for doping).
All of these were memorable for the spectacle of an underdog digging in deep to chase an unlikely dream, testing their bodies to the limit in a scenario they never expected to be in. Such racing makes for intriguing personal drama, and over these two weeks, it’s felt like we’ve got to know Ben O’Connor. With the race lead comes the press obligations, and so we’ve witnessed many interviews with him in which he has come across as open and honest, sometimes blunt but never tetchy, with a cutting sense of humour.
He had already become more widely known to cycling fans for his prominent role in the second season of the behind-the-scenes Tour de France documentary series Unchained, where his frustration at his lack of form during the 2023 Tour and the difficulties his team management had in motivating him painted a picture of a rider who struggles with confidence. So much so, that when he first took the red jersey earlier in this race, one of the talking points was how he would handle such pressure.
Any such doubts were quickly dispelled with what has been a spirited and intelligent defence of the overall lead. Perhaps remembering the first summit finish of this year’s Giro d’Italia, when he made the mistake of trying to follow Tadej Pogačar only to fall away badly, he has been very careful never to go into the red, even as the other GC riders have ridden away from him early on climbs. He’s been dropped early on plenty of occasions, raising the question of whether this would be his last day in red, only for him to reach the finish having not lost as much time as initially seemed likely. He rode with his head and showed the maturity of a man who has developed this race not only as a rider but also as a person.
That might not quite have been enough to prevent Roglič from usurping him today, but a podium finish is still to be defended. And an almighty fight for those podium spots could be on the cards during tomorrow’s huge mountain stage. The gaps on GC behind O’Connor are not big, with Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) just one minute adrift and Enric Mas (Movistar) even closer at 26 seconds. Even fifth-place David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and sixth-place Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) could be threats at 2:39 and 2:53, respectively, given how they’ve been in the ascendancy these last few stages. With seven summits in total and nearly 5,000 metres of elevation gain tomorrow, there is enough climbing for any of these gaps to be closed.
How confident can O’Connor be of successfully finishing on the podium? So far, he has tended to lose just under a minute to Mas on the recent summit finishes (59 seconds today, 58 on Lagos de Covadonga, 38 on Cuitu Negru and 57 on Puerto Ancares), and a little less than that to Carapaz (the same on Covadonga and Puerto Ancares, but 46 seconds today and 29 on Cuitu Negru). A similar loss tomorrow would see him fall behind Mas, but hold off Carapaz — the problem is that, with so much climbing to be done before the final summit of Picón Blanco, there’s a chance he’s distanced on one of the earlier climbs, which would leave him in a lot of trouble.
But if he can hang in there, then things may all come down to the final time trial in Madrid, in which the Australian’s history suggests he could match, and perhaps even gain, time on both. Whatever the outcome, he’s earned himself plenty of new fans and respect in the peloton this race, and his run in the red jersey will live long in the memory.
