It was two years ago in the first week of the Giro d'Italia when Ben O'Connor lost a minute on Tadej Pogačar at the race's opening summit finish of Oropa. Even after he'd ridden all the way back down the climb, the Jayco-AlUla rider was still swearing loudly and audibly as he crossed the team bus paddock in dissatisfaction at his performance.
Fast forward to 2026, and even though O'Connor once again lost over a minute to stage winner and top favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) on the opening summit finish this edition, the Blockhaus, the feelings in his team, at least, on how he'd performed were overwhelmingly positive.
The reason was simple: whereas at Oropa, O'Connor had 'done a Pellizzari' and made the mistake of attempting to follow Pogačar when he attacked, on the much harder, longer Blockhaus with Vingegaard, he was far less impetuous.
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Instead, O'Connor played it steady, and even if he lost 1:05 to Vingegaard and finished fifth on the stage, staying within pace rather than risking it all paid off dividends for the 30-year-old Australian.
"I'll need to watch it back because I didn't see everything on TV, it was covered in trees so the satellite couldn't show it all, but the bits I saw it looked like tactically [he] did it really well," Jayco-AIUla Sports Director Steve Cummings told Cyclingnews on Saturday.
"The only thing there was in the final where he lost a few seconds. He was probably on the limit and he didn't do the last corner as well as he might have, and that's probably what caused the gap.
"But it's good to be fighting for third place on the stage, and certainly from a physical perspective, he got everything out. He did the maximum he could in a good way, so that's great."
O'Connor is now seventh overall, just 1:15 down on Vingegaard, who remains the main reference point for the GC long-term, as well as 4:32 behind current leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), who is not expected to stay in the top spot overall beyond the Tuscany time trial next Tuesday.
Longer-term, despite a very encouraging mountains performance, Cummings insists that the team are not going to look beyond seeing what O'Connor can do on the day-by-day.
"The goal's just to do the maximum every day and whatever that brings, we don't really know," he said.
"The Blockhaus is a proper climb and there were 4,800 metres of climbing on the stage. But many things can happen. There are loads of good bikers and it's still so early, isn't it?"
Yet for all his caution, Cummings recognises that compared to the Tour of the Alps, where O'Connor was eighth overall, and he was "probably a bit underdone, mayben now he's coming really good at just the right time".
The next big summit finish is looming fast, at Corno alle Scale on Sunday's stage 9, and will form the next major test for the Australian. It's also classified as category one like the Blockhaus, but Cummings aruges that "it's just the steep ramp at the end that's the hard part, so that'll be about pacing as well".
"The breakaway has got a good chance, because some riders will essentially have just had two easier days, but it's also potentially another day for Jonas [Vingegaard] to try something as well, because the next chance in the mountains after that for him will be stage 14.
"This is how Visma tend to play it, they let the leader's jersey go early if they can and then on the first mountain stage - boom!"
Collectively, Jayco-AlUla have already lost two riders, Andrea Vendrame (to injury) and Felix Engelhardt. It is a setback, Cummings says, particularly as the rolling stage 8 through the Marche region would have suited them both.
"It's a hard one, but we're not the only team to lose a rider or two riders, unfortunately it's part of the sport," he said. "Particularly as we still want to be going for stages as well as the GC. We want to look for opportunities that we think are realistic there, too."
As for O'Connor, the game plan is more focussed on the overall performance, but as Cummings concludes, rather than fixing specific goals, the team are simply getting everything right and then the results should come on their account.
"It's just about concentrating on doing the maximum every day and doing the basics right. It's a cliche and it sounds easy to do it, but it's easy to mess it up as well.
"All those little things, like making sure he's fueled, making sure he's calm and making sure in these finals he manages his effort really well. That will bring the best results."
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