O'Connor thinks he's lost red in Vuelta, races down mountain and misses podium ceremony

Ben O'Connor exhausted himself on day 16 of the Vuelta a España to the point where he was convinced after the finish that he had lost his red leader's jersey. The Australian of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale urged his team that his red dream was over, put on a jacket, and descended the Lagos de Covadonga, heading for the bus. He will only hear that he missed the podium ceremony, as he kept the red jersey by five seconds in the GC.

The journalists at the top of the final climb had a good laugh. Daniel Friebe of The Cycling Podcast was the first to report on X that O'Connor began his descent after a brief chat with the media. "It looks like O'Connor disappeared. He probably didn't know he still had the red as he descended to the buses at the base of the climb. The podium ceremony has been delayed."

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O'Connor in the red jersey in the Vuelta since day six

O'Connor retaining the red on stage 16 was also somewhat of a surprise. He broke away from the other favorites reasonably early on the final climb. With only a minute to spare on Primoz Roglic, we all drew the same conclusion that O'Connor undoubtedly did on the bike: Roglic will take it. Well, not quite, as the Slovenian crossed the line with Enric Mas and Richard Carapaz "only" 58 seconds ahead of the GC leader. With that, Roglic came up five seconds short.

O'Connor lost time quickly on the steepest sections, but he still held a slight lead when it leveled off in the closing stages and even went downhill at some points. With that, O'Connor will start another stage in red on day seventeen. He grabbed that leader's jersey on day six when the climber was in the breakaway, winning the stage to Yunquera. The other GC riders gave him 6.31 minutes, causing Roglic to lose the red and suddenly face a gap of 4.51 minutes in the GC. That gap is almost closed, but not quite yet!