Australian basic classification contender Ben O’Connor is about to place his deal with the Tour de France for subsequent season as he joins Jayco-AlUla, in accordance with crew boss Matt White.
O’Connor’s race programme for 2025 is already taking form, and he might also goal a number of one-day races equivalent to Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Il Lombardia.
The 28-year-old is making the swap to the Australian crew after a profitable season for Decathlon-AG2R la Mondiale, during which he completed second at La Vuelta a España and World Championships Highway Race and in addition fourth general on the Giro d’Italia.
“He’ll construct again from the Tour de France, and that race would be the primary goal for the summer time,” White advised Daniel Benson’s Biking Substack.
“There’ll in all probability be a reasonably conventional build-up from February and the remainder of the spring, after which he’ll have a relaxation and build-up for the Tour. After which we’d even see him backing up on the Vuelta on the finish of the season,” he added.
Till now, O’Connor has been seen primarily as a rider for stage races, significantly the Grand Excursions given his earlier success. This yr, he additionally confirmed potential for one-day occasions by means of his wonderful efficiency to come back runner-up to Tadej Pogačar on the UCI Highway World Championships in Zürich.
“His coach thought he ought to focus extra on one-day races as a result of he put so little into it…so he shall be pencilled-in for just a few one-day races subsequent yr. For instance Liege. It’s a race that fits his traits. Liege, Lombardia they give the impression of being good for him,”
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O’Connor’s wonderful performances this yr eventuated in him ending fourth within the remaining UCI particular person rankings. White is worked up to have a rider of his calibre on board and hopes that the arrogance gained in 2024 will push him on to even larger issues in 2025.
“Ben has had an unbelievable yr and was one of the constant riders on the planet while you take a look at his season breakdown…In virtually each race he did, he was on the rostrum. It’s an thrilling time for us and the primary time we’ve had an Australian GC chief. We’ve had Aussie winners with [Simon] Gerrans, [Caleb] Ewan and [Michael] Matthews, however no GC chief.”
“He’s been in a position to put the package deal collectively extra persistently. He’s at all times proven flashes of brilliance all through his profession and he’s simply at a stage now the place he’s been in a position to put it collectively for large stretches.”
“For Ben going into subsequent yr, the arrogance that he’s gained this yr will solely be an actual profit. I do know he’s excited to affix an Australian crew and lead from the entrance,” White added.
Workforce planning for 2025 is but to be utterly finalised at Jayco-AlUla, however the framework for his or her 2025 Grand Tour groups is already in place and shall be confirmed over the approaching weeks.
O’Connor is about to co-lead the Tour with one among Jayco-AlUla’s sprinters, whereas the crew will even take intention on the Normal Classification within the Giro d’Italia.
“We’ll run the identical mannequin that we’ve had previously in that we’ll be taking a sprinter to the Tour and Ben. That’s the template we’ve had with Simon [Yates] and Dylan [Groenewegen]. We’ve bought just a few different guys placing their hand up for the Tour, like Eddie [Dunbar], and Mauro [Schmid], so we’ve bought group,” White mentioned.
“The satan shall be within the element with regards to the route for the Giro. We’ll have somebody using GC there. In the intervening time we’re considering perhaps Chris Harper for GC. It’s a race that fits his traits however we’re not going there to win. We’re going there for a high GC outcome, whether or not that’s high eight or one thing round there.”
