Ben O’Connor rode himself into the purple chief’s jersey and accomplished the Grand Tour stage win hat-trick with victory on stage six of the Vuelta a España on Thursday.
The Australian was initially a part of a 13 rider sturdy breakaway, however pushed on with Gijs Leemreize (dsm–firmenich PostNL) throughout the hilly terrain in Andalusia with 55 kilometres to the end. O’Connor was evidently on excellent type, and later distanced his Dutch breakaway companion with a stinging assault on the penultimate climb of the day, the class three Puerto Martinez.
After dropping Leemreize, O’Connor didn’t relent and continued to thunder in the direction of the end understanding that his lead within the purple jersey can be enormous on the finish of the day.
O’Connor will go away his present workforce, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, on the finish of the present marketing campaign after agreeing a transfer to Jayco-AIUla. However in what can be his final Grand Tour outing for the French registered workforce he grew to become the 111th man to win phases in all three {of professional} biking’s largest races.
He punched the air with delight as he crossed the road, understanding that he had turned the Vuelta the other way up and made an enormous assertion of intent to his rivals. O’Connor now leads the race by 4:51 forward of Primož Roglič (Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in second.
Talking afterwards, O’Connor stated that he felt in his “personal world” all through the stage.
“When the preliminary group of 30 went, I used to be a bit upset as I assumed it was a fairly good alternative,” he stated. “So when the race opened up once more, I sort of simply went for it as I felt immediately was only a day to essentially seize my alternative. I simply left all of it on the market and I felt like I may win this stage from the beginning.
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“It’s fairly particular when you’ll be able to simply go on the market and simply completely crush it like that, I completely liked each second.”
“I used to be trying on the triple Grand Tour winners, the checklist of men who had already carried out it earlier than this race began,” he added. “I’m proud to place my title there on that checklist and I’ve the purple jersey as properly so it’s going to be a as soon as in a lifetime expertise perhaps so I’m going to get pleasure from each second.”
When requested if he felt he may now maintain the general lead for a very long time, O’Connor shrugged off the query and performed down his probabilities of general victory.
“Perhaps or perhaps not,” he stated. “It is dependent upon how I am going, but it surely’s a wonderful alternative and I’m simply going to savour it as a lot as I can.”
The way it occurred
(Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
Thursday started inside a Carrefour, the primary time a race had ever begun inside a grocery store.
After a chaotic begin to the medium mountain stage, a 13-strong breakaway ultimately established itself containing a number of climbing specialists. The preliminary transfer started to shatter because the tempo ramped up on the punchy terrain that featured 4 categorised climbs on the run to Yunquera.
With 55 kilometres to the end, an acceleration from Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Gijs Leemreize (dsm–firmenich PostNL) break up the lead group extensive open and instantly riders had been scattered in all places between the 2 riders and chasing peloton.
A 3-man chase group was scorching in pursuit of O’Connor and Leemreize on the class three Puerto Martinez, however O’Connor and his Dutch breakaway companion did not let up. O’Connor put in a stinging transfer two kilometres from the summit which immediately distanced Leemreize from his again wheel.
With 26 kilometres left to trip, Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) and Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar) had been the following riders on the street. Berrade dropped away as the warmth took its toll on the Puerto Martinez ascent. O’Connor pushed on, vastly rising his benefit again to the primary subject which was properly over six minutes, making him the digital race chief.
The Australian crested the Puerto Martinez with a spot of a minute and a half again to Leemreize, with Frigo not far behind him.
Because the chasers thundered down the descent of the climb, Frigo discovered himself on the ground after overcooking a nook. In the meantime O’Connor did not relent and continued to carry his minute benefit over Leemreize, the following man on the street.
O’Connor had 6:35 on the peloton as he started the ultimate climb of the day to Yunquera. With eight kilometres left to trip he had elevated his lead over Leemreize by 30 seconds, however he nonetheless rode exhausting understanding that his general lead within the normal classification was rising.
As he tore into the ultimate kilometre, the Australian had virtually a seven minute benefit over the peloton and two on Leemreize. The 28-year-old crossed the road along with his arms aloft and flipped the Spanish Grand Tour on its head.
In the meantime Leemreize pale behind him and was caught by Frigo. The Italian took second place, ending greater than 4 minutes behind O’Connor, with Florian Lipowitz (Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) rounding out the highest three on the day.
Primož Roglič (Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who led the race coming into stage six, completed 6:31 behind, shifting right down to second.
Outcomes
Vuelta a España stage six: Jerez de la Frontera > Yunquera (185.5km)
1. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, in 04:28:12
2. Marco Frigo (Ita) Israel-Premier Tech, +4:33
3. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +5:12
4. Clement Berthet (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +5:12
5. Cristian Rodriguez (Spa) Arkea-B&B Inns,
6. Gijs Leemreize (Ned) dsm–firmenich PostNL, at identical time
7. Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) T-Rex-Fast-Step, +5:35
8. Urko Berrade (Spa) Kern Pharma, +6:02
9. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Staff Emirates, +6:31
10. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at identical time
Common classification after stage six
1. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, in 23:28:28
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:51
3. João Almeida (Por) UAE Staff Emirates, +4:59
4. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +5:18
5. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +5:23
6. Cristian Rodriguez (Spa) Arkea-B&B Inns, +5:26
7. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +5:29
8. Lennert van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto Dstny, +5:32
9. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathon AG2R La Mondiale, +5:38
10. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +5:49
