Ben O’Connor returns 'home' to Decathlon with Sivakov to give Seixas Tour de France mountain support

Ben O’Connor will ride for Decathlon CMA CGM from 2027, returning to the French squad where he spent four seasons with before moving to Jayco AlUla.

The 30-year-old has signed through to the end of 2028. Decathlon proclaimed that “Ben O’Connor is back home.”

The Australian's first spell with the French team produced the results that first defined his career. He won stage 9 of the 2021 Tour de France in Tignes on his debut at the race and finished fourth overall. In 2024 he took a stage of the Vuelta a España, after a raid, and finished second overall behind Primož Roglič.

Jayco signed O'Connor for 2025 on the basis that an Australian Grand Tour rider belonged at Australia’s WorldTour team. The racing went well, with a Tour de France stage at Courchevel, but the general classification results never matched what he had managed in French colours.

O'Connor  returns to a squad being rebuilt around Paul Seixas, who won Il Lombardia at 20 this month and was fourth at the Tour de France in July. O’Connor is intended as the second Grand Tour leader alongside the French super talent, filling the place vacated by Felix Gall, who moves to Lidl-Trek with Gregor Mühlberger.

Jayco confirmed their own last signing for 2027 as O'Connor's move was announced.  

Mikkel Honoré joins from EF Education-EasyPost on a two-year deal. The 29-year-old Dane is coming off a season interrupted by a crash, and finished with a podium at the Memorial Marco Pantani and top-20 finishes at both the Worlds and the Europeans.

“The crash I had earlier this season gave me a completely different perspective on life and on cycling,” Honoré said previously to Feltet. 

“In general I feel much more privileged to be able to do what I love. I think I enjoy racing much more than before.”

He arrives into a Jayco squad abnout to undergo new majority ownership as Gerry Ryan steps back from owning and funding the team. Eleven riders are aged under 25.

“That is where we have been our strongest and it will be great to have Mikkel boost that group even further and bring an extra level of expertise,” said Gene Bates, Jayco’s head of performance, referring to their one-day classics group.

Honoré joins the team directly from the Tour of Guangxi at their medical testing and get-together in northern Italy this week. 

Sivakov was confirmed on the same day, arriving from UAE Team Emirates-XRG on a three-year deal. The 29-year-old spent three seasons riding for Tadej Pogačar, including the Tours of 2024 and 2025,  He has a Tour de Pologne overall and a Giro stage of his own, and is French despite having started his career racing for Russia.

Decathlon now have Seixas, O’Connor, Sivakov, arriving or already in place for 2027, against the departures of Gall, Mühlberger and Pierre Gautherat, who goes the other way to UAE. The recruitment has been read in France as an effort to persuade Seixas to extend beyond the end of his current contract in 2027, with UAE and Netcompany INEOS both linked with him this year.