He’s nonetheless there. Despite a number of predictions that Ben O’Connor would lose the lead of the Vuelta a España on the horrendously steep Cuitu Negru ascent, the Australian fought tooth and nail to hold on to crimson for a tenth successive stage. And by the summit of the 18-kilometre monster climb, he remained narrowly on prime of the classification.
Able to stick with the opposite favourites for the powerful however extra manageable decrease slopes of Cuitu Negru, as quickly because the GC group hit the ultra-steep remaining section of the race, O’Connor was lastly dropped by arch-rival Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) when the Slovenian powered away with teammate Florian Lipowitz.
While it was nearly unimaginable to see within the swirling fog precisely how O’Connor was faring on the final, essential a part of the ascent, by the summit he had solely shed 39 seconds to Roglič. Roglič himself was not on the best of days, and – in the same state of affairs to Hazallanas every week in the past – the Slovenian was briefly dropped by Enric Mas (Movistar) earlier than regaining contact near the end.
As a results of O’Connor’s tenacious journey, when mixed with the 20-second penalty Roglič subsequently obtained, he stays within the lead of the Vuelta a España GC standings by 1:03. The hole continues to slim, due to this fact however as O’Connor identified afterwards, he is nonetheless in crimson, and “biking’s a fickle enterprise, you by no means what can occur.”
“I by no means actually dreamed I might win the Vuelta,” O’Connor mentioned. “This 12 months my aim was to complete on the rostrum of a Grand Tour and that podium goal for me remains to be effectively and really open.”
“And I’ve obtained the crimson jersey now, too, and I’ll maintain it for so long as I can. I attempted to restrict my loss at present so long as I might and I’m nonetheless within the lead. Cycling’s a fickle enterprise, however in case you have one dangerous day…if Primoz has a foul day, the hole may exit once more. You by no means know.”
O’Connor mentioned he had been “fairly assured” he would maintain the crimson jersey on Cuitu Neru, for the explanations he’d already outlined on Saturday night. “On any lengthy climb, I really feel assured,” he defined. “Today was filthy, the final 1.5 kilometres have been disgusting and the ultimate 500 metres have been simply ridiculous.”
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“So I would not say it was pleasing, however the half earlier than these final 2.5 kilometres was truly very nice. QuickStep put down an excellent tempo, [Mikel] Landa attacked, however I felt fairly good.”
When it involves climbs steep because the facet of a home just like the Cuitu Neru finale, there was no actual technique, O’Connor mentioned. “With all that fog, too it is simply – push as onerous as you possibly can. I knew it was roughly a 12-minute effort, however there is no level in your numbers.” As he jokingly added, “You’re so buckled anyway, you are not pushing numbers you would like you could possibly see!”
Run off at a blisteringly quick tempo regardless of the three,000+ metres of vertical climbing in simply 144 kilometres, the entire stage, O’Connor recognised, had been an exceptionally powerful one, culminating in “the toughest 1.5 kilometres I’ve ever completed.” He had had no concept, he mentioned, that one GC sufferer of the extended total battle had been his teammate Felix Gall, who was dropped from the lead group mid-stage and finally slid to twenty first total.
“The very first thing I knew about that was when the workforce radio mentioned ‘Valentin [Paret-Peintre, teammate,] anticipate Felix, anticipate Felix.’ It was a bit out of the blue,” he mirrored, “But I suppose it could occur in a Grand Tour.”
He took benefit of T Rex-Soudal’s drawn-out pursuit of Pavel Sivakov ((UAE Team Emirates), with the relentless pace set down by the Belgian squad on the restrict of tolerable at instances.
“They have been actually sturdy, I can not imagine how the break managed to remain away within the valley. It was so quick, you could not have swapped off more durable,” he mentioned. Their pace-setting had helped him. “It’s lower than us to race daily. Pavel might have jumped Primoz, or Enric, too. It’s in everybody’s pursuits [to chase] sooner or later. It simply relies on who bites first.”
With Roglič closing in total to only over a minute, because the Vuelta goes into the third week, the GC is now poised on a knife edge and as O’Connor says “I’ve simply go to attempt to keep in there for so long as I can. But it could take only one little factor to derail your race.”
“At the second my 10 days within the jersey really feel fairly particular” and actually, whereas Cadel Evans has received the Tour de France and Jai Hindley the Giro d’Italia, no different Australian previous to O’Connor has ever held a Grand Tour lead for therefore many successive days.
“So I’ll simply attempt to benefit from the [second] relaxation day for now,” he concluded, “and revel in not having yet one more day the place I’ve obtained to exit and race up some climbs.”
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