Australian Ben O’Connor (AG2R-Citroen) proved that he is in good form ahead of his major goal this season, the Tour de France. On Stage 7 of the Critérium du Dauphiné, O’Connor was only beaten by the Jumbo-Visma duo of Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard.
Two-time Vuelta winner Roglič attacked up the climb to Vaujany, rapidly accelerating away from the rest of the contenders. O’Connor tried to follow the move but couldn’t match the Slovenian’s explosiveness.
Vingegaard was able to catch O’Connor and sit on him before putting some time into him on the finish line, but it was a good ride from the West Australian, who moved up to third overall as he crossed the line just 14 seconds behind Roglič and pulled away from the other pre-race favourites looking to hone their pre-Tour de France form.
“I couldn’t follow Roglič when he attacked,” O’Connor said. “It’s a bit frustrating because in the finish I didn’t actually lose much, it was the jump that he got me on. I mean, he was definitely the strongest here! That’s probably the closest I have gotten to him, so it’s an improvement.”
“I actually thought they were going to wait for a sprint, so I miscalculated a bit, but that’s alright. There’s not a lot you can do in that situation. You try and follow Primož and if you can’t follow him there’s not a lot you can do.
“You still have to keep riding. It might seem like you lose, but if I sit up then someone else comes back. You just keep riding but when a team has two guys over the top, there’s not much else you can do.”
O’Connor moved onto the virtual podium, 1:24 down on Roglic and 40 seconds down on Vingegaard, but six seconds ahead of Geoghegan Hart, eight up on Caruso, and 16 up on Gaudu. If he finishes third or better after Stage 8, it will be O’Connor’s highest ever finish in a WorldTour race.
“I’m just happy that I’m there racing with the best guys, and so close to the Tour de France,” said O’Connor.
The Dauphiné concludes on Sunday with the very tough finish at the summit of the Plateau de Solaison, an 11km climb with an average gradient of over 9 per cent.
“The last stage of the Dauphiné is always a bit of a fun fight,” O’Connor said. “It’s a harder climb tomorrow - like this but twice the length, so there’ll be a bit of an explosion.”
The Critérium du Dauphiné concludes with the final stage tonight, another mountainous route that finishes atop the Plateau de Solaison. Watch on SBS and SBS On Demand from 11.25 pm AEST.
