O’Connor racing Giro with 'eyes and instinct' as key mountain test looms

By now, Ben O’Connor is well versed in distilling his Grand Tours down to their essential parts. The second week of this Giro d’Italia has seen much discussion over whether the men directly behind Jonas Vingegaard are racing against him for the win or racing against one another for podium places. But for O’Connor, it’s all just outside noise, a distraction from the task at hand. 

“I say this time and time again, but I don’t really care,” O’Connor told Domestique. “I’m just going to do my own race, do what I see fit, how I see my own chances and how I want to ride each stage and execute that. 

“I’m not really too bothered with what happens in front or behind me. Obviously, when you get into the mountains then you have to be aware of everything that’s going on, but you just race with your eyes and your instinct and try not to get too carried away with everyone else.”

O’Connor’s eyes and instincts have served him well to this point. As the Giro re-enters the mountains in Val d’Aosta on Saturday, he lies fifth overall, 2:50 down on maglia rosa Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), 2:17 behind Vingegaard and firmly within striking distance of a podium finish in Rome.

The Jayco-AlUla rider limited his losses better than most on the first summit finish at the Blockhaus on stage 7, but he was less assured at Corno alle Scale two days later. But then a fine display in the stage 10 time trial to Massa, where he gained 19 seconds on Vingegaard, saw O’Connor climb three places to fifth overall.

There are swings and roundabouts aplenty in the battle for a podium finish at the Giro, and O’Connor revealed that his (relative) struggles at Corno alle Scale were the consequence of a cold that had affected him over the weekend.

“I was just under the weather, I felt a bit crook, but I think a lot of guys have been coping and dealing with little illnesses,” O’Connor said. “I actually don’t think it’s possible to do the Giro and not be sick at some point. I think that that’s just part and parcel of this race, so, yeah, it’s not a new story…”

The rest day arrived at just the right time, and when the Giro resumed with the flat and fast time trial along the Tuscan coast on Tuesday, O’Connor was among the best of the GC men. “I was able to come back after a pretty poor ride on Sunday so, yeah, happy days,” said O’Connor.

Since then, the overall contenders have enjoyed something of a truce. The rising temperatures might exact a toll further along the line, but nobody was tempted into trying to launch an ambush on the rugged terrain that punctuated the finales of the last three stages.

Even when Netcompany-Ineos hit the front of the bunch on the run-in to Chiavari on stage 11, it was clear to O’Connor and those parked behind them that their intent simply to stay safe.

“They definitely didn’t ride hard: it was a defensive ride,” O’Connor said. “I think that’s probably how [Ineos director of racing] Geraint Thomas would have approached this stage as a rider too.”

That unsteady détente will break on Saturday, when the Giro returns to the high mountains with a short but demanding stage that takes in the climbs of Saint-Barthélémy, Doues, Lin Noir and Verrogne ahead of the summit finish at Pila. 

O’Connor isn’t directly familiar with the climbs, but he has raced – and won – on similar passes on the other side of the Franco-Italian border. “I haven’t raced too much around Aosta, but it’s just kind of like the Italian side of the Savoie, so it should suit me,” O’Connor said. “It’s a stage I like, with long climbs in a big mountain valley.”

To this point, O’Connor’s old Decathlon teammate Felix Gall has been the closest to Vingegaard in the high mountains, and the Austrian should be to the fore again on Saturday. O’Connor, of course, will aim to be in the mix too, but he’s been in this game long enough to understand that conjecture counts for little on the Giro. For better or for ill, the high roads to come will deliver the true verdict of this race.

“I think you more or less sit where you deserve on GC by the end,” O’Connor said. “And I hope that’s the case by the time we get to get to Rome.”