馃毚馃徎馃嚜馃嚫 | De afgelopen dagen deed het peloton het vaak rustig aan, maar hoe anders is dat vandaag. Overal groepjes, zelfs de eerste uren laten zich moeilijk samenvatten. Alle reden om in te schakelen voor de laatste 100 kilometer. #LaVuelta24 馃摵 Stream koers op HBO Max
Exceptional day for Ben O'Connor: solo gives Australian stage win, red and remarkable gift in the GC
CyclingThursday, 22 August 2024 at 18:03
On an exceptionally glorious day for him, Ben O'Connor achieved an insane double success in the Vuelta. The Australian leader of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale won the sixth stage after a long breakaway and claimed the red from Primoz Roglic. The peloton finished well behind, giving O'Connor a comfortable lead in the GC for the next few days. Gijs Leemreize helped shape the day and finished sixth.
Thursday's stage was a treat in advance: no high mountains, but four cols and thus an extensive list of potential favorites in southern Spain. The obvious choice was a breakaway group, including some names aiming for the red jersey. After all, Primoz Roglic had signaled he was pretty willing to give away his jersey and thus surrender the burden of the lead in the race.
A furious opening phase followed, in which virtually the entire peloton seemed to have caught on to these words. Many teams set up attacks; no one got away in the first 30 kilometers. Josh Tarling, Wout van Aert, and favorite Andreas Kron鈥攚e all saw them in action. However, it didn't work out. Joao Almeida struggled to turn on his diesel. He was briefly riding behind but eventually came back.
Everybody wanted to be in front; O'Connor and Lipowitz tricky contenders
Next, a group of 33 managed to make a gap. This included Kron, who was still short in the classification; also of note, among many others, are Marc Soler, Dani Martinez, Gijs Leemreize, Cristian Rodriguez, Pelayo Sanchez, Victor Campenaerts, Tarling, and Filippo Zana. However, they, too, failed to get a decisive gap. None other than Thymen Arensman and Ben O'Connor interfered in a chase. This gave Antonio Tiberi a hard time; he could barely catch on in this phase.
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On top of the first climb of the first category, there was a start to a realistic breakaway. Twelve men made it: O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R) as well as his teammate Cl茅ment Berthet, stayed in front, as did Rodriguez (Ark茅a), Leemreize (dsm-firmenich), Jay Vine (UAE), Florian Lipowitz (Red-Bull BORA), Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), Luca Vergallito (Alpecin), Sanchez (Movistar), Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla), Mauri Vansevenant (T-Rex Quick-Step) and the Equipo core duo of Pablo Castrillo and Urko Berrade. At first, their lead remained small until Red Bull closed in, and it quickly grew to five minutes.
Teams in the peloton got nervous, Leemreize along at the head of the race
A status quo phase followed this, although O'Connor got nervous early on. On paper, the number four of the Giro was the most dangerous GC rider at the front, and he seemed to realize this. Soon, he was sprinting for bonification seconds, but the Australian was not paying attention, and Rodriguez passed him, who was also after the red jersey. After this, O'Connor decided to cycle on; Leemreize was attentive and jumped with him.
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馃毚馃徎馃嚜馃嚫 | Gijs Leemreize is weer helemaal terug aan het front in een grote ronde. De DSM-renner rijdt voorop met Ben O'Connor. Nog 55 kilometer op en af, de marge met de achtervolgers is nu een minuut. #LaVuelta24 馃摵 Stream koers op HBO Max
In the peloton, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe was in a luxury position. They needed no control with the nearest pursuer, Lipowitz, in front. Other teams didn't like O'Connor's presence and decided to keep the pace high. Bahrain Victorious, in particular, did this ahead of Tiberi. To no great avail: the Australian climber and the Dutch all-rounder were even slightly ahead, and in the last forty kilometers, they had also built a nice gap on their fellow breakaway riders.
O'Connor goes for impressive solo, UAE, Movistar, and Lidl-Trek consider GC
On the second-to-last mountain, also of the third category, it appeared that the differences remained pretty much the same: O'Connor and Leemreize were simply the fittest of the group, and Sanchez and Frigo kept fighting behind them to stay close. Then, at 27 kilometers, we saw a battle at the front: O'Connor attacked and left Leemreize standing. The Decathlon AG2R leader seemed to be working on a dashing exploit. Behind, we saw discussions between UAE and Bahrain, should they give the Australian so much leeway?
Red Bull still thought it was fine and made no move to chase. The consequence? O'Connor's virtual lead in the general classification grew to four minutes! There was no movement from the peloton; they just glanced at each other. Movistar and Lidl-Trek were also nervous. How much more of the time difference could they make up? It didn't look like it. With twenty kilometers to go, with only the final third-category climb left, we saw 6.21 minutes on the clock.
Australian Vuelta blow: favorites must work on coming stages because of O'Connor's lead
The peloton began to move just after five, but O'Connor kept cranking up the pace. For the man who won a stage in this year's UAE Tour, it was a memorable solo in the Spanish heat. His grimace betrayed the reluctance of the slender rider, but the gap remained the same for a very long time. The average percentage (3.9%) proved a not very productive chase terrain for the teams that wanted it.
Five kilometers from the finish, the gap was still no smaller than 6.20, even though the Movistar men were pounding their way to the head of the still-large peloton. This allowed the leader to go unthreatened on his trilogy: O'Connor had already won a stage in the Giro (2020) and the Tour (2021). Nowhere, however, was his performance more stunning than his venture into the sixth stage of the Vuelta. In the final kilometers, O'Connor increased the gap to nearly seven minutes.
馃毚馃徎馃嚜馃嚫 | Ben O'Connor slaat een dubbelslag. Hij wint niet alleen de etappe, maar heeft na vandaag ook nog 5 minuten voorsprong in het klassement. Primoz Roglic gaat een onrustige nacht tegemoet. #LaVuelta24 馃摵 Stream koers op HBO Max
Then, it was waiting for the pack. How much did the big names lag behind O'Connor? Frigo and Leemreize both finished more than four minutes behind. Three other breakaway riders caught the Dutchman: Rodriguez and Lipowitz. Behind them, the peloton quickly followed. The verdict? 6.30 minutes. It meant a lead in classifying four minutes and fifty seconds on Roglic for O'Connor. There you go; what a turn of events in the Vuelta!
Results stage 6 Vuelta a Espa帽a 2024
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Latest Comments
- Van Aert is really handsome. He can influence me all day! Ditto for Philipsen. Why do you think many of us love cycling?: to see heroic attempts at climbing mountains at high altitudes or to watch speedsters sprint for the finish line or to watch a human being ride at break neck speed down a tricky descent? No, it's all about their lean physiques and muscular legs. (apologies for objectifying these dedicated and amazing athletes).BarwonHeadsUp25-10-2024
- It is unfortunate that the author can't feel the joy that Pogacar brings to the sport and his fans who are legion and I for one feel lucky to have watched such a memorable performance and historic season From the Strada until yesterday with multiple wins in stages in both tours and beyond dominance in the World's. He is proud to wear the Rainbow stripes, shows his leadership to protect his fellows and is as courteous and sportsman-like as the sport allows. He goes early to not have to respond to each attack as all the rest would make him do it. Any racer who could would do the same. Don't "grow tired" of greatness as it is always fleeting.ccrider13-10-2024
- What load of rubbish. Pog is likely a once in a generation cyclist, the like of which hasn't been seen since 'the Cannibal '. How many people were complaining that Merckx was making racing predictable? I remember this year's World RR as one of the most exciting I've watched. Mainly BECAUSE Pog was the favourite and launched what everyone thought (Pog included) was a suicidal attack with 80km to go. For the next 2 hours, I was on the edge of my seat thinking "this is too much, even for Pog". Maybe Zonnefeld prefers the snooze-fest that is a bunch sprint? Like most people I know, I can't watch two hours of the bunch riding very fast... I wait for the final 5km and watch just the sprint. In any event, most races are won from a sprint or lone break. What difference does it make who makes the lone break? Ultimately, the other contenders will have to figure out a way to beat Pog. Even if that means collaboration between teams. It's going to be an exciting few seasons, until the next Pog arrives on the scene. If this is boring, heaven knows what exciting looks like!Michael513-10-2024
- This is not a gravel race. UCI fail, from the surface they are on to team tactics. In what country was the first "gravel race" in what country is the most popular gravel race? Go with the race model that created the discipline.
Barnes127411-10-2024 - And don't forget he has now won 4 of the big 10 races (Grand tours, Monuments and WC/OG) in one year with a chance to make that 5. (5 has only been done once before)Joostmehrtens05-10-2024