He is nonetheless there. Regardless of 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.
Ready to stick with the opposite favourites for the robust however extra manageable decrease slopes of Cuitu Negru, as quickly because the GC group hit the ultra-steep last phase of the race, O’Connor was lastly dropped by arch-rival Primoz Roglič (Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) when the Slovenian powered away with teammate Florian Lipowitz.
Whereas 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 an identical 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.
On account of O’Connor’s tenacious journey, when mixed with the 20-second penalty Roglič subsequently acquired, he stays within the lead of the Vuelta a España GC standings by 1:03. The hole continues to slender, 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 may win the Vuelta,” O’Connor stated. “This yr 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 received the crimson jersey now, too, and I am going to maintain it for so long as I can. I attempted to restrict my loss right now so long as I may and I am nonetheless within the lead. Biking’s a fickle enterprise, however in case you have one dangerous day…if Primoz has a foul day, the hole would possibly exit once more. You by no means know.”
O’Connor stated 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. “At the moment was filthy, the final 1.5 kilometres had been disgusting and the ultimate 500 metres had been simply ridiculous.”
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“So I would not say it was satisfying, 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.”
In the case of climbs steep because the aspect of a home just like the Cuitu Neru finale, there was no actual technique, O’Connor stated. “With all that fog, too it is simply – push as arduous as you’ll be able to. I knew it was roughly a 12-minute effort, however there is not any level in taking a look at your numbers.” As he jokingly added, “You are so buckled anyway, you are not pushing numbers you want you might 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 robust one, culminating in “the toughest 1.5 kilometres I’ve ever executed.” He had had no concept, he stated, that one GC sufferer of the extended general battle had been his teammate Felix Gall, who was dropped from the lead group mid-stage and ultimately slid to twenty first general.
“The very first thing I knew about that was when the group radio stated ‘Valentin [Paret-Peintre, teammate,] look ahead to Felix, look ahead to Felix.’ It was a bit out of the blue,” he mirrored, “However I suppose it might occur in a Grand Tour.”
He took benefit of T Rex-Soudal’s drawn-out pursuit of Pavel Sivakov ((UAE Workforce Emirates), with the relentless velocity set down by the Belgian squad on the restrict of tolerable at instances.
“They had been actually robust, I am unable to imagine how the break managed to remain away within the valley. It was so quick, you could not have swapped off tougher,” he stated. Their pace-setting had helped him. “It is less than us to race every single day. Pavel may have jumped Primoz, or Enric, too. It is in everybody’s pursuits [to chase] sooner or later. It simply relies on who bites first.”
With Roglič closing in general 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. However it might take only one little factor to derail your race.”
“In the intervening time my 10 days within the jersey really feel fairly particular” and in reality, whereas Cadel Evans has gained 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 am going to simply attempt to benefit from the [second] relaxation day for now,” he concluded, “and luxuriate in not having yet one more day the place I’ve received to exit and race up some climbs.”
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