{"id":778708,"date":"2026-07-04T00:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T00:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/778708\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T00:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T00:15:09","slug":"cycling-transfers-ben-oconnor-set-for-decathlon-ef-set-to-sign-red-bull-rider-and-kate-courtney-linked-with-a-major-road-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/778708\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycling Transfers: Ben O\u2019Connor set for Decathlon, EF set to sign Red Bull rider, and Kate Courtney linked with a major road team"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\ud83d\udcf8 SWpix.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s the evening before the start of the Tour de France, and I\u2019ve just made it back to my hotel having spent the day venturing between team press events and a string of interviews.<\/p>\n

Twitter<\/a> \ud83d\udfe2 \u2014 Instagram<\/a> \ud83d\udd34 \u2014 Bluesky<\/a> \ud83d\udd35<\/p>\n

Andy Schleck and Derek Gee-West audio interviews are in the Founding Members\u2019 WhatsApp group, while our final instalment of the Tour de France Power Rankings<\/a> was published this morning. One sports director pointed out that my selection of Harold Tejada as an outside pick for the top-15 was, and I quote, \u2018an ok shout\u2019. High praise indeed.<\/p>\n

My highlight of the day came at Lidl-Trek. No sooner had I hit publish on my Andy Schleck story than I heard my name mentioned across the hotel lobby. When I looked over, a clutch of senior management from the team were discussing the story – I could see the green logo on one of their phone screens as I walked over to introduce myself. It felt like a nice moment of recognition. <\/p>\n

Overall, it was a really slick press conference, with the media team doing a really good job of ensuring all the journalists had the interviews they wanted, and with Lidl on board, the snacks were elite. <\/p>\n

In the afternoon it was over to EF Education-EasyPost for another well-organised and relaxed press conference involving Ben Healy, Richard Carapaz and Jonathan Vaughters. The audio from that event is also in the WhatsApp group. There was also exciting new tech on show ahead of the TTT, too. More on that tomorrow\u2026<\/p>\n

Lowlight of the day: the heat. Just walking around is hard going.<\/p>\n

Daniel \ud83e\udef6<\/p>\n

Earlier, L\u2019Equipe reported that Ben O\u2019Connor had agreed terms on a deal that would reunite him with Decathlon. It\u2019s not clear how long the contract is for, but we first reported the links between the Australian and his former team in June.<\/p>\n

By that point it had become apparent that Felix Gall was off to Lidl-Trek and that Decathlon were on the lookout for a replacement. There weren\u2019t many GC riders still on the market, but O\u2019Connor made a lot of sense. He knows the team, and to be honest, it\u2019s not quite worked out for him – yet – at Jayco AlUla. There\u2019s also the fact that Decathlon would have been more willing to pay the Australian a Grand Tour-level salary, which is what he\u2019s roughly on now. <\/p>\n

Right at the start of the day, I called O\u2019Connor to talk about the Tour, and I\u2019ll run the majority of that chat tomorrow, but here\u2019s what he said when I asked about his future in terms of his contract position given that he was the best GC rider on the market.<\/p>\n