Australian Ben O’Connor has shown his readiness for another major Tour de France by winning the first overall podium of the World Tour of his successful career at the Criterium du Dauphine.
Criterium of the Dauphine
General classification
- 1 – Primoz Roglic (SLO): 29 hours 11 minutes 22 seconds
- 2 – Jonas Vingegaard (DEN): + 40 seconds
- 3 – Ben O’Connor (AUS): +1: 41
- 4 – Damiano Caruso (ITA): + 2:33
- 5 – Jack Haig (AUS): +3: 13
- 6 – Louis Meintjes (Sth AF): +3: 17
The Perth rider, who finished fourth in last year’s Tour, took third place in the stage race in the south-east of France which acts as a key general rehearsal for the world’s biggest race.
Although O’Connor’s performance in the one-week race was very encouraging with the big tour in less than three weeks, he was still no match for race winner Primoz Roglic and teammate. Jumbo-Visma of the Slovenian, runner-up Jonas Vingegaard.
O’Connor, who was third during the night, was again the only runner to approach the Jumbo-Visma pair, finishing third in the eighth and final stage on Sunday, a 138.8 km mountain route. from Saint-Alban-Leysse to Plateau de Salaison.
But again he could not match Roglic, one of the Tour’s favorites, and his powerful Danish right-hand man Vingegaard, who moved away from the rest of the field on the final climb.
Once they broke their opponents, with their nearest rival, O’Connor, 15 seconds adrift, the teammates had the luxury of being able to hold hands as they crossed the line.
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Roglic was happy to push Vingegaard, which allowed him to get on stage and finish second in the overall standings, while he got the overall victory by 40 seconds from the Dane and 1:41 ahead of AG2R Citroën O’Connor.
“I thought maybe I’d go back with them,” O’Connor said.
“I still had legs. I never exploded. It’s just that I couldn’t go with the first accelerations, but I can be super proud.
“I don’t think we’re really that far off from fighting the best in the world. And that’s something we can all be proud of together.”
Aside from Paris-Nice, which O’Connor had to leave due to illness, the 26-year-old has been excellently consistent this year, not having finished below seventh place in any one-day race or classification general by stages.
Roglic, who missed the Tour de France 2020, losing to compatriot Tadej Pogačar at the climax, and had to abandon last year’s race after a fall, had something to smile about and said : “I finally won some races in France, so it’s very nice.”
“Jonas (who finished second in last year’s Tour) was very strong on the last climb and it’s crazy, an amazing day for our team,” he said.
“As you can see, things are going in the right direction, so we can be sure. We have more time, more work to do and [we] should be ready for the Tour “.
Another Australian Jack Haig from Bahrain-Victorious also completed an excellent race, finishing fifth overall at 3:13 above Roglic.
But he quickly accepted that both Roglic and Vingegaard had put a marker as the main threats to Pogacar’s bid for a third consecutive Tour title.
Roglic has won the last three Spanish Vuelta titles, but the Tour remains his main focus after also winning Paris-Nice in March.
AAP