{"id":600789,"date":"2026-05-24T02:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T02:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/600789\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T02:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T02:40:11","slug":"ben-oconnor-limits-losses-in-fight-for-top-spot-in-giro-ditalia-after-struggling-on-summit-finish-of-pila","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/600789\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben O’Connor limits losses in fight for top spot in Giro d’Italia after struggling on summit finish of Pila"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben O’Connor’s Giro d’Italia <\/a>GC aspirations took a serious but perhaps not decisive turn for the worse on Saturday when the Jayco-AlUla leader was amongst the first major contenders to crack on the final summit finish of stage 14 at Pila.<\/p>\n

Just when race leader Afonso Eul\u00e1lio (Bahrain Victorious)<\/a> was dropped, nine kilometres from the summit, O’Connor also found he could not handle the pace set down by Visma-Lease a Bike’s top climbing domestique Sepp Kuss<\/a>. In the space of a kilometre, like Eul\u00e1lio, the Australian had already lost over a minute on the main GC group.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This was a full four kilometres before Kuss teammate, stage winner and new race leader Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> had attacked, but O’Connor dug deep nonetheless and found hs own pace.<\/p>\n

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The Australian limited his losses to 2:55 by the summit, but he still dropped from fifth to eigth overall. He is now 5:22 down on Vingegaard, and 3:32 off the closest podium spot, Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) in third place.<\/p>\n

O’Connor had a great ride on the Blockhaus, strongly defending his position on GC, before a more torrid time at Corno alle Scale. He also told Domestique<\/a> he had been ill earlier in the race.<\/p>\n

There were unconfirmed reports that O’Connor had crashed in the neutralised zone of stage 14 and if that had had any effect on his performance<\/a> and he is famous for his capacity to turn things around in the third week. But it remains to be seen if he can regain momentum in the last and toughest part of the 2026 Giro d’Italia, and whether if so he’ll now focus more on GC or switch towards stage wins.<\/p>\n

Who will challenge Jonas Vingegaard at this year’s Giro d’Italia? Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our coverage of the Corsa Rosa. Enjoy unrivalled reporting from our team of journalists on the ground, including breaking news, analysis, and more, from every stage as it happens, plus access to the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! <\/a>Find out more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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