O'Conner's racing style already brought him success: "Don't continue with it, stop pulling, this is just not going to work."

Ben O'Connor is transferring to Jayco-AlUla this winter, but although he is changing teams, much will remain the same. His distinctive, aggressive racing style should accompany him to France. "I can't lose that aggressivity to chase wins or to put myself out there in a risky situation," he said.

The 29-year-old Australian, who comes over from Decathlon AG2R, is reflecting on a particularly successful season. He finished fourth in the Giro d'Italia, rode in the red leader's jersey for days, and eventually finished second in the Vuelta a España. He also secured second place in the UAE Tour and the Tour of the Alps, finished fifth in the Tirreno-Adriatico, and finished second at the World Championships. After this exceptional year, O'Connor will say goodbye to his French team and join Australia's Jayco-AlUla. His ambitions remain high without question.

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O'Conner wants to take his aggressiveness to Jayco-AlUla 

The 2021 Tour de France also remains unforgettable for O'Connor. The common denominator of all his accomplishments is boldness. O'Connor dares to attack and is bold enough to take risks. Sometimes, he shoots himself in the foot with that, but this year, it brought him enormous success. So the Australian climber knows: "It's an aspect of cycling that I cannot lose, I can't lose that aggressivity to chase wins or to put myself out there in a risky situation," O'Connor told Cyclingnews.

"In the Vuelta I had everything to lose. We went there as a team for a top five overall for me, and I put myself out there. If it went wrong, all the boys are going to be like, ‘What did you do?’ My directors are also shouting in the radio at one point, like, ‘don't continue with it, stop pulling, this is just not going to work," but it worked and O'Conner completed a magisterial solo.

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An Aussie team to the Tour me an Aussie leader

All in all, the climber's French years were successful. "I've really enjoyed the time with the team, and I think they've also really probably appreciated a very different way to have a leader within the team. It was a cool period of my career and now you turn the page, onto the next one" he said, looking ahead.

At Jayco-AlUla, he gets plenty of freedom as a leader. With the departure of Simon Yates, the team was looking for a new GC leader. Naturally, O'Conner was at the top of the list. "To be an Aussie GC guy going to the Tour with an Aussie team. I think that's an exciting thing for Aussie cycling, to be honest.' And it also makes communication a little easier, no more linguistic confusions. 'I think just being with that Aussie group will be a lot easier mentally, to deal with things that you need to fix, in particular, you can express yourself, as you should be able to, and people probably understand."

In 2025, O'Conner will be at the start of the Tour anyway, but there are more goals. "I need to win a WorldTour stage race, because I've missed that so far, and I just want to be on the podium of all Grand Tours in the end. When you're on the steps in Madrid, or whether it's Rome or Paris, it's a pretty special thing, because it’s not just for yourself too, it's the whole team, the whole atmosphere, everyone around you, that's got you that you to that point. That's very much a thing that needs to be done again, because it was a special moment and one that gives you a lot of pride."

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