Consistency and taking chances are not two concepts that may seem like a natural pairing, but ahead of this year's Giro d'Italia they were exactly the key words Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla) was focusing on.
After all, when it comes to Grand Tours it's taking those chances that helped push him up the ranks on the general classification standings and then his consistency afterward that helped him stay near the top, right from the 2021 Tour de France fourth place to second overall at the Vuelta a España in 2024. The question now is whether that is a formula that could take him back to the GC podium of a Grand Tour again at this year's Giro d'Italia?
"I'd love to be in that position again," O'Connor told Cyclingnews via phone from Bulgaria just a day before Friday's race start, emphasising that he wasn't, however, going in with a strict podium goal.
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"It's more of how high up on GC can you find yourself and the aim is just to be there or thereabouts, racing for that spot."
The last time the Australian raced the Giro d'Italia was in 2024, when he finished fourth overall, moving into that position on the stage 7 individual time trial and holding it right through to the end despite illness in the later stages of the race. The earlier season run in had been impressive, including a stage win at the UAE Tour and second overall plus a fifth overall at Tirreno-Adriatico and then a second overall at the Tour of the Alps.
It has been a different road in this year, with no podium results accumulated along the way, but the eighth overall at the Tour of the Alps last month was clear evidence of the build toward his first big target of the year.
"I certainly came into the last Giro brimming with confidence. I was really flying, and I knew how good I was at the time which is different to this one, of coming in not having had the same results, but I'm feeling definitely like I'm on this trend going up," said O'Connor. "There [in 2024] I knew I was ready from the get go from a long way out.
"But I guess it's not so much a matter of filling yourself with confidence at the start and it's more about how you're going to approach the full three weeks."
After all, when he started the Vuelta in 2024, a race where he ended up in second overall, "I wasn't really sure how I was going", he explained
"I feel like this is the same situation – I've definitely been improving and I've done some things that definitely show in training that I'm there on paper," said O'Connor. "But it's not 'til you get to stage 7 and the Blockhaus and then afterwards that things really show and you can see if that's all true or not."
Chasing chances
The first few days of the 3,466 kilometre route aren't without their challenges but it is that Blockhaus day on stage 7 that is the first summit finish. Among the other big stages are stage 13 with 4,400m of altitude gain and a finish in Pila at 1,793 metres, stage 16 with its climb to the Carì ski resort, then stage 19 to Alleghe with five climbs delivering 5,000m of elevation gain and finally stage 20 to Piancavallo, which tackles that climb twice.
O'Connor has outlined in the past that the Giro is a Grand Tour that he believes suits him, and with the loading of very long climbs into the back end of the race that "helps me, it helps me a lot," he said.
"Definitely those 30 to 45 minute climbs quite often in that final week, that's kind of where my bread and butter is and it's where I've won my stages in Grand Tours," said the rider who won a Tour de France stage to Tignes in 2021 and another in 2025 to the Col de la Loze, a Giro d'Italia stage to Madonna di Campiglio in 2020 and in 2024 claimed a Vuelta stage win on the climb heavy course to Yunquera .
That climb-heavy final section of the this edition of the Giro hopefully is also when the Jayco-AlUla leader should be at his strongest.
"I've been progressing in a bit of a slower fashion, and trying to get there at the right point, at the right time, and not overdoing it," said O'Connor of his build this season. "In 24 I suffered a lot with the illness, and there it was a shame with how that final week played out because there was a lot more physically I could have given in, in theory.
"So yeah, I'd love to have that opportunity again and be in the right frame of mind and physical state to give things a go to the absolute max."
As for the approach to the race overall, "my key word is just consistency and take your chance", said O'Connor.
That chance, however, may have to wait till a little later in the event.
"I think that opportunistic kind of moment is not so much for the first week, but more a bit later in the race, if that ends up coming to pass. But yeah, it something that I've have been able to do throughout my career."
And we very soon may see him do it once again.
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