Australian team Jayco-AlUla said on Monday it would be launching into the Tour de France this year with its home-grown leader, Ben O'Connor, chasing a top five spot on the overall while it also once again pursued sprint victories – and the first yellow jersey of the race in Lille – with Dylan Groenewegen.
Alongside the experienced sprinter, who has won six Tour de France stages to date, the squad will include Luke Plapp, making his debut at the event after claiming his first Grand Tour stage win at the Giro d'Italia in May. Eddie Dunbar is another first timer who will also be on hand to support O'Connor in the mountains.
Mauro Schmid will be lining up for his debut, too, fresh from road race and time trial victories at the Swiss National Championships while Australian road champion Luke Durbridge will bring his experience from ten previous participations. Luka Mezgec and Elmar Reinders will be on hand to support Groenewegen in the sprint lead out.
“We have a really versatile team and I’ve performed well in Grand Tours in the past so I’ll do everything I can to get back to the top five, which I’ve been able to finish in at the Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a España, and Tour de France," said O'Connor in a team statement.
O’Connor joined Jayco-AlUla at the start of this season from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, providing the Australian team with a powerful overall contender to replace the departing Simon Yates. The aggressive rider came into the team on the back of a season which significantly elevated his already strong palmares with the Western Australian, who has won a stage at each of the three Grand Tours, second overall at Vuelta a España and the World Championships road race in 2024 as well as taking fourth at the Giro d’Italia.
His best overall result at the Tour de France to date is a fourth overall, delivered on debut after joining AG2R Citroën in 2021, a breakthrough moment that set the rider on a clear Grand Tour GC path. However, since then the rider hasn’t had the smoothest of runs in the July Grand Tour, with an early crash in 2022 leading to a DNF. After that he took 17th in 2023 before O’Connor was drawn to the alternative of the Giro d’Italia in 2024. The Tour de France, however, hasn't been an option he wanted to set aside for long.
"It’s always an exciting time, it’s the biggest race, and biggest stress, but it’s also the biggest reward," said O'Connor, who is one of the overall contenders lining up behind a formidable group of top favourites topped by the likes of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
O'Connor added that the 2025 edition is a 'race of two halves'.
"You have northern France with some extremely punchy stages and then pretty much, from stage 10 onwards, all of the climbs are 30 minutes to one hour long. There are some really big cols and passes, so I think that’s where I will be enjoying the race a lot more. They’re the kind of mountain stages I really prefer. For me, it’ll be about getting through the first half and then executing in the second half.”
Jayco-AlUla 2025 Tour de France team
- Eddie Dunbar
- Luke Durbridge
- Dylan Groenewegen
- Luka Mezgec
- Ben O’Connor
- Luke Plapp
- Elmar Reinders
- Mauro Schmid
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