Ha ha yeah Cadel on Netflix wouldn't have been pretty I reckon lol
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O'Connor's problem is the fact he's not one of the best.
It means his emotional issues coupled with poor leadership on the road adds up to make him a pretty ineffective GC rider in a GT like the Tour. At one point Vincent Lavenu at the top of the Puy de Dôme basically questions the logic & sense in O'Connor screaming SH*T F*CK on the radio when he's getting dropped.
Cadel Evans meanwhile was one of the favorites to win the Tour during his prime (& achieved exactly that). That's the difference between a champion with a rough temperament who gets the job done & an 'okay rider' with temperament problems who freaks out & starts screaming as soon as he's dropped.
It means his emotional issues coupled with poor leadership on the road adds up to make him a pretty ineffective GC rider in a GT like the Tour. At one point Vincent Lavenu at the top of the Puy de Dôme basically questions the logic & sense in O'Connor screaming SH*T F*CK on the radio when he's getting dropped.
Cadel Evans meanwhile was one of the favorites to win the Tour during his prime (& achieved exactly that). That's the difference between a champion with a rough temperament who gets the job done & an 'okay rider' with temperament problems who freaks out & starts screaming as soon as he's dropped.
He clearly feels a lot of pressure as leader, especially as a non French rider on a very French team. But even a lesser rider like Gaudu on an equally French team can act out, as we’ve seen.
And that's the GT stage win triple sorted!
He has a great buffer over the rest, but will he be able to resist to.the likes of.Roglic, Landa, Mas in the mountains. There's alot of hard stages left
Won me over as a fan. Great legs, great gusto and risk taking, and great tactics on a stage like today's. He may or may not keep the lead, but really impressed regardless. Great stage win for the dude
At the very least a great performance and made this race a LOT more interesting.
Great win today and a huge lead. He should not be underestimated.
True, but he didn't when he came 4th in the 2021 Tour and at this year's Giro.
Only Roglic. The rest he has to beat on GC at this Vuelta are not "a few" levels above him when he is riding well. I'd put him on similar level to Enric Mas.
Also true in the past, but he's been around for a while now, it seems he has learned:-
Had to look up his results for the year. Some of his notable results.
Vuelta a Murcia 1st
UAE Tour 2nd
Tirrenco-Adriatico 5th
Tour of the Alps 2nd
Giro'd Italia 4th
San Sebastian 11th
He also got 3rd in last years (2022) Dauphine
Vuelta a Murcia 1st
UAE Tour 2nd
Tirrenco-Adriatico 5th
Tour of the Alps 2nd
Giro'd Italia 4th
San Sebastian 11th
He also got 3rd in last years (2022) Dauphine
He's been very solid, if unspectacular all year so far. Hopefully O'Connor makes the most of this opportunity
With the birth of his daughter O'Connor hasn't been racing much since the Giro, just San Sebastian and the Olympics.
He's been training with the Vuelta as his target since May so probably comes in more fresh than any other contender. Something to keep in mind IMHO.
I think he can win it.
After the same move on stage 9 Tour de France 2021, he had 3:46 on Mas, he held him off by 1:41.
This year in the Giro he beats Tiberi fair and square.
So Mas and Tiberi (and other riders on similar level - Landa, Gall - in the same team even, ...) he should be able to hold off.
Roglic and potentially Almeida I can see slightly stronger than the afore mentioned. But 4:51 and 4:59 is not nothing...
Happy for O'Connor. Think he surprised himself going by his post race reaction. His TT has also improved re the Giro rides. The race is much more interesting now.
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Mas had two off days in that Tour: Mont Ventoux and Col de Portet.
O'Connor lost more than 6 minutes to Carapaz between stage 9 and the end of the race.
Defending the jersey is a real motivator - he clearly had that on his mind yesterday when he pushed on and didn't just settle for the stage win. The betting makes this a straight fight between Ben and Roglic - with the Slovenian a slight favourite. But I think Ben can do it - Roglic's team is not that strong and the other teams aren't going to help
i´m excited what Ben O´Connor and his team are doing in the next days. First test will be stage 9 with three category one climbs. What will they do to defend the leaders jersey?
For me it would be a smart option for UAE, Bora to send a rider like Sivakov, Del Toro (UAE) or Lipowitz, Vlasov (Bora) in the break. These riders are real GC factors but UAE or Bora wouldn´t chase them (as long as they are not gaining more than 6-7 minutes time).
Also riders from Visma (Kuss), Lotto (van Eetvelt), Bahrain (Tiberi, Haig), Movistar (Mas), Arkea (Rodriguez) would play it smart if they try to join the break.
All teams would look to decathlon and force them to do the work.
Just if the breakaway, with one of the mention riders in it, reaches the 6-7 minute advantage over the peloton i see other teams working. And in their view its better to be a minute or two behind maybe van Eetvelt than 5 minutes behind O´Connor.
So a lot of domestiques could be burned on the first two climbs and before. If O´Connor is isolated or maybe just with Gall on the last climb then i see attacks flying in and O´Connor could easily loose 3 - 5 Minutes on riders like Almeida and Roglic.
Exciting stages ahead.
For me it would be a smart option for UAE, Bora to send a rider like Sivakov, Del Toro (UAE) or Lipowitz, Vlasov (Bora) in the break. These riders are real GC factors but UAE or Bora wouldn´t chase them (as long as they are not gaining more than 6-7 minutes time).
Also riders from Visma (Kuss), Lotto (van Eetvelt), Bahrain (Tiberi, Haig), Movistar (Mas), Arkea (Rodriguez) would play it smart if they try to join the break.
All teams would look to decathlon and force them to do the work.
Just if the breakaway, with one of the mention riders in it, reaches the 6-7 minute advantage over the peloton i see other teams working. And in their view its better to be a minute or two behind maybe van Eetvelt than 5 minutes behind O´Connor.
So a lot of domestiques could be burned on the first two climbs and before. If O´Connor is isolated or maybe just with Gall on the last climb then i see attacks flying in and O´Connor could easily loose 3 - 5 Minutes on riders like Almeida and Roglic.
Exciting stages ahead.
Are we ready to accept the peloton don’t understand the form O’Conner was in today and may come to accept defeat at their miscalculation? I see a lot of talk about the GC favorites laying back instead of keeping it close. But could they even? Was it a choice to not work or were they in the hurt locker just keeping the deficit at 5 minutes??
Such a great ride from Ben! Now, does he have the mentality to keep cool ?
I’ve said this several times already, but it was teams inability (or stubborn unwillingness?) to adjust to the situation once it was clear the race had been turned on its head. So they just let the situation continue on.
It's a strange mentality. Teams not willing to chase GC 1st because it helps GC 2nd - even if it diminishes the chances of their own GC candidates.
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