Australian stage racing specialist Ben O'Connor has confirmed he'll be making the Giro d'Italia general classification his main goal of 2026.
A Giro stage winner in 2020 and fourth overall in 2024 in the same race, the Jayco-AIUla leader will now be looking to go at least one better on GC this May.
Triumphant on the Tour de France's toughest day in the mountains in 2025 on the Col de la Loze, O'Connor already has a podium finish in the Vuelta a España, where he took second on GC after a long battle against overall winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in 2024.
However, the 30-year-old from Western Australia pointed out in a team press release that he had a great deal of affection for the Giro, and he wants to set the record straight on his narrow podium miss from 2024.
“The Giro d’Italia always finds our soft spots,” O’Connor explained about the race that saw him make a breakthrough Grand Tour ride six years ago.
"Maybe it’s just the Italian allure, or maybe because it was the Grand Tour I always believed I’d perform well at.
"The 2024 Giro and the fourth place overall was a good result, but no one likes finishing off the podium. I’d love to change that in the future and can’t wait to be back there this year."
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"Having that long crescendo into the final week of big mountains is something that’s always suited my style," O’Connor continued, "And it’s been replicated again for 2026, especially the Dolomiti stage.”
O'Connor will be one of the leading favourites for the Giro alongside riders of the calibre of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) and former race winners Richard Carapaz (EF-EducationFirst) and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
There were no specifications in the press release regarding O'Connor's race program for the rest of the spring prior to the Giro itself, nor whether O'Connor would then make a return to the Tour de France or Vuelta a España in the remainder of the year.
In 2024, O'Connor began his year with a win at the then one-day Vuelta a Murcia race on February 10, and then followed that up with the UAE Tour, taking second and a stage, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour of the Alps.
This year, O'Connor has already raced a lot in the Australian summer events, placing tenth overall in the Tour Down Under, and the team hope his strong start on home soil will continue deeper into the calendar.
"He was fourth at the Giro a few years ago and so he knows what it takes," said Sporting Manager Gene Bates.
"This year, he’s older and wiser, and we’re really looking forward to supporting him to achieve the best result he can overall at the Giro."
The Giro d'Italia starts on May 8 in Nessebar, eastern Bulgaria and finishes on May 31 in Rome.
Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.
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