claim a win on the brutal stage 18<\/a>. That victory helped O\u2019Connor finish the Tour in 11th overall, and was the highpoint in a rollercoaster first campaign with his new team.<\/p>\n\u201cThere is a lingering frustration from the injuries and illness last year,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s such an annoying sport. There are things that are completely out of your control, and that\u2019s probably the one thing that can kill you mentally. But it\u2019s a constant motivator too, to always rock up to races ready to go, because you never know what\u2019s around the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ben O\u2019Connor will use the Tour Down Under to lay the foundation for his season. Photograph: Zac Williams\/SWpix.com\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor\u2019s grand tour successes have come in the toughest of conditions, including on the mountain stage to Col de la Loze at the Tour last year and a similarly cold and wet Alpine stage in 2021. Clever tactics on the road \u2013 while making the most of being underrated earlier in his career \u2013 also helped elevate O\u2019Connor in overall standings.<\/p>\n
But with the positive results mounting, like holding on for second overall behind Primoz Roglic in Spain two years ago, O\u2019Connor is unlikely to keep flying under the radar. He says he wouldn\u2019t have it any other way, as he hopes to finally find out what he is capable of on the biggest stage with the holy trinity of form, fitness and a strong team behind him.<\/p>\n
The foundation for the season will be laid at the Tour Down Under this week. O\u2019Connor concedes the parcours around Adelaide does not really suit his preference for long and grinding climbs. But he sees riding for the highest finish possible as the ideal preparation for attacking his GC ambitions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m doing two grand tours, one absolutely has to be all in on GC,\u201d he says. \u201cThen the other one, I\u2019m there to win stages. And that\u2019s how I\u2019m going to play it for the rest of my career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved finishing second in the Vuelta and having the red jersey for two weeks. If you wear the leader\u2019s jersey, and you know you have that capacity, then that\u2019s a pretty big motivator. I\u2019ve shown that I\u2019m a GC rider through and through. I\u2019ve done a fourth overall at the Tour as well, and I reckon I can do another top five for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben O\u2019Connor is just one of the many in the current generation of professional cyclists who knows how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-423519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}