The Tour de France may not have started as hoped for Ben O’Connor and Jayco-AlUla but as the race headed into his preferred mountain terrain on stage 10 the Australian wasted no time trying to make his mark by unfurling the trademark aggressive tactic of flying into the break.
The 165-kilometre, eight-climb day to Le Mont Dore was always set to be a big battle in the Massif Central and as such the fight to make it out the front on Bastille day was on. There was much at stake for many, O’Connor certainly among them as after a crash on the opening day and a tough opening week he was 15:23 down on GC in 25th at the start of stage 10. His mentality, however, was far from that of a rider conceding defeat.
“I've read this story before, I've been in this situation before and come out the other side with some pretty good results,” O’Connor said in a post stage interview.
O’Connor slipped into the break of around 20 riders, with teammates Mauro Schmid and Luke Plapp alongside him, an ideal scenario for the squad on this climb heavy day.
“Everybody has been talking about this stage for months,” said Jayco-AlUla sports director Matthew Hayman, in a video summary of the stage. “We are looking for opportunities today.”
The opportunity loomed large as heading into the final three kilometers O’Connor worked hard to leap onto the wheel of Visma-Lease a Bike rider Simon Yates, who had attacked from the break. The Australian clung on for a while but then the 2025 Giro d’Italia winner went again and with the earlier effort having taken a toll, O’Connor couldn’t keep contact this time.
“It was a hell of a day,” he said. "I thought I just had to be on Simon’s wheel. I didn’t expect a second kick though. I didn’t have the legs for that sadly.”
Yates went on to claim the stage victory while Thymen Arnsman (Ineos Grenadiers) and the new wearer of the yellow jersey, Ben Healy (EF Education-Easypost), passed O’Connor to sweep up the remaining podium spots while he had to settle for fourth and a move up the overall ranks to 18th, the deficit to the top spot now trimmed to 11:50.
“I’m a bit disappointed to be honest … I need to get the win eventually,” said the rider who is yet to claim a victory this season but is certainly intent on pursuing it in France.
“First day in the break, first day in the mountains – you’ll see me there again.”
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