BARCELONA: Australian Ben O’Connor completed his collection of stage victories in all three of cycling’s Grand Tours by winning stage six of the Vuelta a Espana on Thursday, and also took the overall lead after his solo run left everyone behind.

O’Connor was part of a breakaway group early in the race but by the penultimate climb and with 28 kilometres left to race, the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale rider went for glory on his own, punching the air in celebration as he crossed the line.

“It was beautiful racing, I think, all around,” O’Connor said.

“I was looking at the triple Grand Tour winners, and a list of guys that have done it before this race started, and now my name is on that list.”

Italy’s Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) came in second, four minutes and 33 seconds behind O’Connor, with German Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) finishing third.

Three-times former champion Primoz Roglic began the day top of the general classification but O’Connor took the red jersey from the Slovenian who finished in the peloton, six minutes and 31 seconds adrift of the winner.

O’Connor now has a four minute 51 seconds lead over Roglic after his impressive ride on the 185.5-km stage from Jerez de la Frontera to Yunquera, with Joao Almeida a further eight seconds back in third.

“I guess I have the red jersey as well so, it’s going to be a once in a lifetime experience maybe, so I’m going to enjoy every moment,” the new leader said.

The stage had a unique start, with the riders setting off from inside a Carrefour supermarket, and after navigating the aisles they faced a category one climb less than 60 kilometres into the race.

By then, there had been several attacks from the peloton, with a large group of over 30 riders managing to get away, but that was whittled down to 13 who pushed the gap out to five minutes on the bunch with 70-km to ride.

O’Connor and Gijs Leemreize dropped the others on the second climb, before the Australian left the Dutch rider behind as he powered to take the stage, having already won stages at the Giro d’Italia in 2020 and the Tour de France in 2021.

This early into the race, Roglic and Red Bull appeared more concerned with conserving energy, and they did have Lipowitz up ahead in the break, but they may live to regret allowing O’Connor get so far ahead.

O’Connor, who finished fourth in this year’s Giro and in the 2021 Tour de France, came into the Vuelta looking for a podium finish, but after opening up such a large lead he may now have even loftier ambitions.

“It depends how I go in Cazorla and Granada, but it’s an excellent opportunity and I’m just going to savour it as much as I can,” O’Connor said.

Friday’s seventh stage is a 180.5-km ride from Archidona to Cordoba.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2024