Vuelta a Murcia: Ben O'Connor takes victory with 12km solo attack
Australian scores Decathlon AG2R's first win of 2024 as Tratnik and Wellens round out podium
Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) took his team's first win of the 2024 season with a solo ride to the line at the Vuelta a Murcia.
He took advantage of the French squad's strength in numbers at the head of the 199km race, proving the strongest from the lead group and dropping Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) on the final climb of the day.
Out front, it was the Australian who pushed his advantage on the descent and remaining flat run to the line in Murcia. Further back, Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease A Bike) worked his way across to Wellens, joining the Belgian 3km out before beating him in the race for second at the finish.
"I'm very happy, there's no better way to start the season than with a win," O'Connor said after the race. "It's nice to see that the winter work is paid off. I always wanted to be aggressive today on the climb in the middle of the race. I wanted to take an opportunity.
"It was super windy as well afterwards so it made for a really hard day and I was actually really glad that we had Paul Lapeira and Nico Prodhomme with me in the breakaway up front of the race. I think we actually did a decent job to keep away from the peloton.
"I took a moment with Tim Wellens to jump away because we started to lose some cooperation. So yeah, I guess in the end the story shows I got away on the final climb and on the race and couldn't be happier. Now I just want to hope to continue this kind of form and race to my heart, race to my head as well and do my best."
O'Connor, Tratnik and Wellens were among an elite group which broke away from the peloton on the major mid-race climb of the Alto Collado Bermejo. Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease A Bike), Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe), Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Jefferson Cepeda (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) also made the move.
On the way down the other side, the attack caught the breakaway survivors of Tosh Van der Sande (Visma-Lease a Bike), Arne Marit (Intermarché-Wanty), Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies), Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Mathias Norsgaard (Movistar), with the enlarged group enjoying a two-minute lead over the peloton heading into the final 80km.
Teams including Ineos Grenadiers and Groupama-FDJ led the chase behind but the leaders would prevail. Wellens and O'Connor made a move to go clear just over 40km from the finish as others fell back towards the peloton.
They pushed their advantage on the road to the final difficulty of the day, the Alto Cresta del Gallo some 12km out. It was there that O'Connor made his winning move, accelerating to leave Wellens behind as he struck out for the finish alone.
Further back, attacks came from Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) and Jan Tratnik, with the Slovenian proving the strongest man in the chase to work his way across to Wellens late on and secure second in the final, 42 seconds after O'Connor had raced to victory.
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*
Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets
After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59
Join now for unlimited access
Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Prior to joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.
Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, Demi Vollering, and Anna van der Breggen.
As well as original reporting, news and feature writing, and production work, Dani also oversees How to Watch guides and works on The Leadout newsletter throughout the season. Their favourite races are Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix and their favourite published article is from the 2024 edition of the latter: 'Unless I'm in an ambulance, I'm finishing this race' – Cyrus Monk, the last man home at Paris-Roubaix
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
Tour of the Gila: Marlies Mejias Garcia wins stage 2 as Stephens retains race lead
Repeat victory for Cuban, who out-sprinted Kuskova on stage to Fort Bayard -
Tour of the Gila: Scott McGill wins men's stage 2 Inner Loop Road Race
Stites moves into race lead with third at Fort Bayard -
Lizzie Deignan gets green light to race La Vuelta Femenina
'My recovery has maybe been better than we even expected' says Deignan after suffering a broken arm in Tour of Flanders crash -
Gravel's newest star Torbjørn Røed leaves road behind with Unbound in mind
Conclusion of Tripel Crown of Gravel takes place this Sunday then Norwegian resets for Unbound Gravel