O’Connor in the frame after Alpine victory
Tignes, France - Australian climber Ben O'Connor soared to a high-altitude stage win on the Tour de France on Sunday on a cold, rainy day that culminated in a 21km climb to Tignes.
UAE Emirates controlled the main contenders and their leader the 22 year old defending champion Tadej Pogacar again hurt his rivals and strengthened his hold on the Tour lead, while Citroen AG2R man O'Connor hauled himself into second in the overall standings.
O'Connor skipped up the 21km final climb to Tignes leaving other members of his breakaway group, including Colombian pair Nairo Quintana and Sergio Higuita, trailing in his wake. "It's mind-blowing, it can make your heart stop and it definitely did that to mine," said a visibly thrilled O’Connor who dedicated the win to his happy Citroen-AG2R team, his family, girlfriend and mates back in Australia.
The temperature was in single figures Celsius and rain fell most of the day. "Conditions were atrocious," O'Connor said.
Pogacar once again showed he is currently the strongest of the overall contenders as he dropped Ineos pair Geraint Thomas and Richie Carapaz with 4km to go, gaining another 30 seconds in his title defence.
The Tour lost two big guns, however, as 2020 runner-up Primoz Roglic succumbed to exhaustion following on from a fall on Monday. And Mathieu van der Poel decided to pack his bags for Tokyo, to focus on Olympic mountain bike gold after spending six days in yellow and sending the roadside fans wild with his gung-ho approach.
Monday is a rest day before Tuesday's relatively flat 190.7km run from Albertville to Valence.