Vuelta a España race chief Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) struck a defiant notice regardless of his most severe time loss to this point to arch-rival Primož Roglič on the lungburstingly-steep Ancares summit end.
With some 4 kilometres to go on the ultimate ascent, a searing sequence of regular accelerations by the Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe squad, beginning with Dani Martínez, Florian Lipowitz and Aleksandr Vlasov and culminating with Roglič himself, shattered an already fast-disintegrating entrance group.
Even because the Slovenian scythed down his rivals and went for it alone, O’Connor was already in serious trouble. However fairly than over-react and take a look at to stick with or draw near Roglič, he merely opted to proceed at a gentle tempo and hope for one of the best.
It proved to be one of the best tactic by far, and even noticed O’Connor restrict the velocity of the time loss at sure factors, with Spanish TV calculating he ceded simply 9 or 10 seconds within the remaining kilometre. However that was a drop in a hefty-sized pond by then, as Roglič had lengthy since managed to drop your complete area, together with his normally most tenacious pursuer Enric Mas (Movistar), and was clearly happening the rampage.
O’Connor lastly crossed the road 1:55 down on Roglič, and his general lead has plummetted to a slender 1:21. After the ten seconds in Cordoba on stage 7, the 56 seconds – together with time bonus – in Cazorla on stage 8 and the 37 seconds at Padron on stage 11, this was by far the most important dent in his GC benefit to this point and narrows the hole between himself and Roglič to its closest but.
However because the Australian identified on the end, whereas being removed from a great end result, “I’m nonetheless in pink so a minimum of that’s factor”.
“My morale’s OK, I’d have favored to have been higher, however I can’t select, so I’m nonetheless glad I’ve obtained this jersey, I’m nonetheless in a tremendous second in my profession, even when it is not been straightforward right this moment,” O’Connor mentioned afterwards.
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“I’m going to get up tomorrow nonetheless main this race and provides it one other crack. It wasn’t my greatest day, however I’m nonetheless in the identical situation. I’ve had, what, seven or eight days within the jersey, so I’ll simply try to maintain it for so long as I can. That’s going to be my story till I lose it.”
Remoted from his teammates, O’Connor did every thing to deal with it at his personal tempo. Even his traditional climbing wingman Felix Gall moved forward, and each Adam Yates (UAE Emirates) and Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease A Bike), neither on an important day, had been in a position to transfer previous him and forward.
O’Connor’s clarification for the time loss was easy. “I used to be fairly cooked, I wasn’t going anyplace in a rush. I used to be simply attempting to handle my effort. Like I mentioned, I didn’t actually have an excessive amount of happening right this moment.
“I suppose the ultimate kilometre was not the worst, however I simply tried to maintain my tempo. I simply tried to get from A to B as quick as I may.”
He didn’t, he mentioned, count on to cede the jersey at Ancares, though he was life like sufficient to confess that at this stage of the sport, it was not out of the query. Because the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale chief put it, “possibly, some day, however not right this moment. I used to be going sluggish, however not that sluggish”.
Whereas stage 14 is one other mountainous day, the principle late problem of the cat.1 Puerto de Leitareigos is lengthy however not excessively tough or steep and is adopted by a quick descent to the end at Vilablino. O’Connor’s subsequent massive problem to his GC lead will seemingly come on stage 15 to Cuitu Negru, a monster 18km summit end climb with an especially exhausting finale.
For now, although, the Australian stays on prime of the classification and if Ancares was certainly not his greatest day, it’s as effectively to keep in mind that on the even tougher Sierra Nevada stage final Sunday, O’Connor not solely did not crack, he was even in a position to regain a bit of time on his rivals with a 3rd place on the road.
Ancares may need been a serious blow to O’Connor’s GC hopes of retaining pink, then, but when one factor is evident on this ultra-unpredictable Vuelta a España, it’s that nothing could be taken without any consideration. And because the Australian himself put it, albeit extra narrowly than ever, he is nonetheless within the lead.
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