‘I’m so relieved to get it done today’ – Ben O’Connor kickstarts season with Tour de France win

It was always going to be a tall order for Ben O’Connor to better his 2024 season, a campaign that brought with it second places at the Vuelta a España and the World Championships, and a fourth place at the Giro d’Italia.

So when he crashed on stage one of the Tour de France – after an opening half of the season that didn’t yield any standout results – he would have been forgiven for resigning himself to the belief that 2025, his first year with Jayco AlUla after joining from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, was set to the antidote to the highs of last year.