From a lead of 5 seconds to a deficit of 1 minute and 54 seconds: it had been looming for some time, but Ben O'Connor has lost his leading position in the Vuelta a España. The Australian riding for Decathlon AG2R still has to give it his all twice more to finish on the podium of a grand tour for the first time.
"In the end, I really cracked," O'Connor explained right after the finish at the Alto del Moncalvillo. "I actually felt very good, but about halfway up the final climb, it went downhill. It must be the fact that we're on stage 19, right?" he wondered out loud.
Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe had virtually ridden him out of the red jersey earlier with an uphill lead-out, allowing Primoz Roglic to take over the red jersey in this Vuelta. "I wasn't surprised about that, but I didn't expect to be so bad at the end of the climb," he admitted. "It wasn't great, but at this moment, it's the reality."
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O'Connor still has to battle against Mas and Carapaz
Two tough days are still ahead, acknowledges the leader of Decathlon AG2R. "What am I feeling now? I hope to have a beer on Monday and relax on my terrace, but first there's the big fight on Saturday. And then there's the time trial, so I still face two important days."
And those won't be easy, as Mas and Carapaz are now within a minute of him. Mas is about 25 seconds behind, and Carapaz has just under a minute to make up. Both riders finished ahead of O'Connor on Friday and have already shown through words and actions that they plan to push him off the podium before reaching Madrid.
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