Ben O’Connor capped the Vuelta with an exhibition en route to Yunquera

The Tour of Spain 2024 was alive this Thursday sixth stage of race. It is a day of 185.5 kilometers between Carrefour de Jerez Sur and Yunquera marked by a large breakaway allowed by the peloton from the start. He paid a lot for it, because he couldn’t react anymore a devastating attack by Ben O’Connor to pick this left the Australian as the big winner of the day: he took the stage successwas achieved a huge difference of 6:31 in the peloton and became strong race leader with a difference of almost five minutes on the favourites.

The Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale cyclist followed the threats made throughout the day in the red jersey of a Primoz Roglic dedicated to the reserve of strengthbut now you see how Not only did he give up the red jersey, but he also put a very dangerous person in the fight for the general classification.fourth in the 2024 Giro d’Italia and the 2021 Tour de France and eighth in the 2022 Vuelta a España. Thus, O’Connor achieved a triumph of bellsthe first for him in the Vuelta, the third in the 2024 season and the tenth in a sporting career in which he has already raised his arms in the stages of three grand tours.

Although, above all, O’Connor positioned himself as a clear contender in the fight for general classification. He is the leader with a 4:51 advantage over Roglicwith 4:59 to Joao Almeida and with 5:18 to Florian Lipowitz, who was also involved in the breakaway of the day, who placed fourth. Enric Mas remains fifth in 5:23 and Cristian Rodríguez is sixth in 5:26

I was expecting a tough day, with four mountain passes called to punish the cyclists’ legs. The first, Puerto del Boyar, is expected to choose a race. however, O’Connor not only got into the main team, but he himself reigned over other rivals. in the fight for victory on a day that was called a day of transition for the favorites but, nevertheless, could greatly influence the future of the Spanish round.

From the very beginning the fight for escape was extensive, including Boyar’s Portfirst class, as the perfect setting to arrange that match. Well, a bunch at least thirty two runners He moved on the way up that climb and gained a few seconds advantage over the peloton. Among him are important people such as Daniel Felipe Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), Marc Soler (UAE Emirates), Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar), Jesús Herrada (Cofidis), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny), Joshua Tarling (Ineos ). Grenadiers), Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma), Cristian Rodríguez (Arkéa) or Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

This caused the main concern of the groupwhere attacks began to occur in the first kilometers of the Boyar climb (first at 14.7 kilometers at 5.5% in the first part of the stage). Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) or Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) acted with attacks, the UAE Emirates gave a strong rhythm to the main group and the distance between the leading men is reduced.

In fact, The front team was well selected. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), O’Connor, Cristian Rodríguez (Arkéa), Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma), Clément Berthet (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Mauri Vansevenant (T-Rex Quick-Step) endured it. . ), Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), Jay Vine (UAE Emirates), Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma), Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar), Chris Harper (Jayco AlUla), Gijs Leemreize (DSM-Firmenich) and Luca Vergallito ( Alpecin -Deceuninck). O’Connor is a clear threat in the fight for the red jersey.

A deadly threat

These differences began to widen thirteen runnersalthough this is the next ascent, to the third of Air Port (6.6 kilometers at 4.3%), which has finished defining the race situation. O’Connor, aware of the option to be the leader, and Leemreize attacked it in the face of the peloton’s attempts to reduce the distance. From the back, Berrade, Frigo and Pelayo Sánchez tried to react, but they couldn’t catch the two riders at the front of the stage.

The peloton certainly gave up on him, knowing that the fight was ahead and, with it, with O’Connor as a good candidate to win the red jersey It didn’t seem to bother Primoz Roglicready to reserve strength. O’Connor, certainly, showed good sensations in his legs climbing the various passes of the day, among them Puerto Martínez, the third of the day (third of 3.5 kilometers at 6.3% with the summit at the twenty-five kilometer goal). This led to the Australian freeing Leemreize about twenty-seven kilometers from the finish.in search of double success on stage and leadership.

This one, with a difference of more than six minutes in a peloton that knew it had no legs to close the gap, seemed solid for him. Especially when the multicolored snake suffered a declinewith several falls involving, among others, Adam Yates or Pelayo Sánchez, finally swallowed by the main group.

What didn’t diminish was O’Connor’s difference from the other runners, with more seconds remaining in the final part of the stage with less excitement than seeing where the counter stopped. The last climb remained in Yunquera, a third with 8.9 kilometers at 3.9%, where the summit was the objective of the day. O’Connor came out as the clear winner, capping off an impressive exhibition with one of the greatest achievements of his sports career.

The only thing left to determine is the quality of his work for general classification. The rest of the breakaway mates came within striking distance, with Marco Frigo second in 4:33 and Florian Lipowitz third in 5:12. The peloton, unable to reduce the distances, marked the differences in terms of classification: it came in at 6:31a stark difference for a stage of these qualities.

A difference that leaves O’Connor not only as a leader, but also as a candidate for everything in this Vuelta. With so many left, only six episodes are up for grabs. But the difference is so great that the margin of favorites for more concessions seems minimal. They will have to work hard, even if the high mountains remain, to dethrone a man who has already shown great performance in three weeks of racing.

For now, it is late to restructure the strategies before the seventh stage this Friday, with 180.5 kilometers between Archidona and Córdoba and there is a tough second category climb to Alto of 14%, with an average gradient of 5.6% and 7.4 kilometers, to be crowned just over twenty-five kilometers from the finish line. The favorites have no margin for error: O’Connor is now the solid skipper of the Vuelta a España after an impressive display.

Vuelta a España classifications

6th stage, Carrefour Jerez Sur. Jerez de la Frontera-Yunquera, 185.5 km
1. Ben O’Connor (Australia/Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) 4h 28’12” (16″ bonus)
2. Marco Frigo (Italy/Israel-Premier Tech) at 4’33” (6″ bonus)
3. Florian Lipowitz (Germany/Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) at 5’12” (4″ bonus)
4. Clément Berthet (France/Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) id. (2″ bonus)
5. Cristian Rodríguez (Spain/Arkéa-B&B Hotels) id. (4″ bonus)
6. Gijs Leemreize (Netherlands/DSM-Firmenich PostNL) id.
7. Mauri Vansevenant (Belgium/T-REX-Quick-Step) at 5’35”
8. Urko Berrade (Spain/Kern Pharma) at 6’02”
9. Isaac del Toro (Mexico/UAE Emirates) at 6’31”
10. David Gaudu (France/Groupama-FDJ) id.
The
General
1. Ben O’Connor (Australia/Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) 23h 28’28”
2. Primoz Roglic (Slovenia/Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) at 4’51”
3. Joao Almeida (Portugal/UAE Emirates) at 4’59”
4. Florian Lipowitz (Germany/Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) at 5’18”
5. Enric Mas (Spain/Movistar) at 5’23”
6. Cristian Rodríguez (Spain/Arkéa-B&B Hotels) at 5’26”
7. Antonio Tiberi (Italy/Bahrain Victorious) at 5’29”
8. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Belgium/Lotto Dstny) at 5’32”
9. Felix Gall (Austria/Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) at 5’38”
10. Mattias Skjelmose (Denmark/Lidl-Trek) 5’49”