Ben O'Connor to target Tour de France and specific one-day races in 2025 🇦🇺
Ben O'Connor to target Tour de France and specific one-day races in 2025 🇦🇺
The Australian will be Jayco AlUla’s first-ever home-grown Tour leader
Ben O’Connor will spearhead Jayco AlUla’s Tour de France campaign in 2025, as he hopes to compete for a podium spot in the biggest race on the men’s calendar.
The 28-year-old had his best-ever season in 2024, culminating with second overall in the Vuelta a España and a runner-up spot behind Tadej Pogačar at the Worlds in Zurich. A move from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale was announced in the summer, and O’Connor will lead Jayco’s stage racing squad for the next two years.
Jayco have been on the scene since 2012, when they formed under the title of Orica GreenEdge, and despite various GC leaders over the years - notably Simon Yates - the team have never had a fully-fledged Australian GC leader at the Tour. Until now, and Director of High Performance and Racing, Matt White, sees huge potential with the team’s new signing.
“The challenge for us is to keep the ball rolling,” White told us at the recent London 3 Day.
“Ben has had an incredible year and was one of the most consistent riders on the planet when you look at his season breakdown from Murcia, and through to UAE Tour, the Giro and the Vuelta. In almost every race he did, he was on the podium. It’s an exciting time for us and the first time we’ve had an Australian GC leader. We’ve had Aussie winners with Gerrans, Ewan and Matthews but no GC leader.”