'The cruellest race' - O'Connor turns Tour around with excellent stage win

Ben O'Connor claimed his first victory in Jayco AlUla colours as he won the queen stage of the Tour de France with a brilliant solo performance on the mighty Col de la Loze. The Australian, who took his second Tour stage win of his career, admitted he hadn't expected to triumph on the most challenging day of this year's race but knew from the start of the stage that he was on a good day. 

"No, not at all, but I felt much better today from the start, it was pretty active and I think by the point you realise you could have a shot, was the top of Madeleine, when Jonas and Pogi came across. We were still with them over the top of the summit, and yeah it was the perfect opportunity to go in the valley," O'Connor said after his victory.

The 29-year-old launched his move in the valley between the descent of the Col de la Madeleine and the foot of the Col de la Loze and was joined by Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike). When asked if he attacked because his legs felt good, O'Connor confirmed but also acknowledged that he needed to have a strong advantage of Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard.

"Yeah, once again, the valley was the perfect opportunity to get time, you're gonna get smoked by Tadej and Jonas if you stay there, so it was worth a shot," he explained. "And on the final climb, it's just waiting for the steepest part, just before we entered into Courchevel centre, and then it was all about pacing and keeping speed, typical time trial stuff, you know, it's what I do best."

Before O'Connor's success on stage 18, the Col de la Loze already held special memories from his days at Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and stage 17 of the 2023 edition, where he supported his former teammate to stage success.

"This is a climb that I actually have some good memories on because I rode for my teammate at the time, Felix Gall, to the win over here on Col de la Loze. It's pretty sweet to do it again, but this time it's me who puts his hands up in the air," O'Connor said.

After distancing Rubio and going solo with just under 16km remaining, O'Connor admitted that he was constantly monitoring the gap to the yellow jersey group containing race leader Pogačar and Vingegaard, as he didn't want to have his heart broken in the steep finale on the Col de la Loze.

"That was the main gap that I was looking for, once Rubio was gone, that was all I cared about," he said. "I just didn't want to get rolled by the yellow jersey coming at me in those final 5km, so when I [saw] it staying at 3 minutes with what, 3km to go, it was safe, so good."

The victory represents a significant turnaround for O'Connor, who had experienced a tough start to the Tour after falling out of the general classification, and he reflected on the emotional and physical impact of the sport's biggest race after turning his 2025 Tour into a success.

"Yeah, it's a rough race, it's the biggest race in the world, but it's for sure the cruellest. I've wanted to have a victory for so many years now, I've been fighting with thirds and fourths and so close." O'Connor said.

"I couldn't be more proud of myself and the boys, they've backed me every single day this race, even throughout the pretty rough times, so thanks to everyone at Jayco AlUla. It's what the team needed and what I needed."

Despite no longer racing for the general classification and targeting stage wins, O'Connor by default of his excellent performance, has jumped up into the top 10 on GC, sitting tenth at 29:19 behind the yellow jersey Pogačar.