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 pink 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 powerful however extra manageable decrease slopes of Cuitu Negru, as quickly because the GC group hit the ultra-steep ultimate section of the race, O’Connor was lastly dropped by arch-rival Primoz Roglič (Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) when the Slovenian powered away with teammate Florian Lipowitz.
Whereas it was nearly inconceivable 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 analogous 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.
Because of O’Connor’s tenacious trip, 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 pink, 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 stated. “This 12 months my objective was to complete on the rostrum of a Grand Tour and that podium goal for me continues to be properly and actually open.”
“And I’ve bought the pink jersey now, too, and I will maintain it for so long as I can. I attempted to restrict my loss in the present day so long as I might and I am nonetheless within the lead. Biking’s a fickle enterprise, however you probably have one dangerous day…if Primoz has a nasty day, the hole may exit once more. You by no means know.”
O’Connor stated he had been “fairly assured” he would maintain the pink 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 this time 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 gratifying, however the half earlier than these final 2.5 kilometres was really very nice. QuickStep put down 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 no 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 would 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 performed.” He had had no thought, he stated, 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 ultimately slid to twenty first total.
“The very first thing I knew about that was when the crew radio stated ‘Valentin [Paret-Peintre, teammate,] await Felix, await Felix.’ It was a bit out of the blue,” he mirrored, “However I assume it may possibly occur in a Grand Tour.”
He took benefit of T Rex-Soudal’s drawn-out pursuit of Pavel Sivakov ((UAE Crew Emirates), with the relentless pace set down by the Belgian squad on the restrict of tolerable at instances.
“They had been actually robust, I am unable to consider 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 daily. Pavel might have jumped Primoz, or Enric, too. It is in everybody’s pursuits [to chase] in some unspecified time in the future. It simply will depend 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. However it may possibly 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 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 thus many successive days.
“So I will 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 bought to exit and race up some climbs.”
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