There’s something about success in bike racing that’s, well, rather moreish. Tadej Pogačar, with his apparently endless drive when it comes to winning the Tour de France is a great example, but it’s a narrative that runs all the way through the sport from top to bottom.
Hovering somewhere not too far from that particular top is Jayco AlUla rider Ben O’Connor, who Tour viewers may have witnessed gesticulating angrily at the front of the main chase group as the race approached the end of stage 20 to Pontarlier.
This was nothing to do with the rain, which was coming down like stair rods; and nothing to do with the fact that a fellow Aussie from another team was out front, with the stage victory waiting for him just a few kilometres down the road.
Rather it was pure frustration at watching the top-10 GC position in which he had begun the day, slip away from him, with breakaway rider Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) prising it slowly away from him as the gap opened.
Aussie rider O’Connor had taken a stunning victory on one of the biggest stages of the race, when he soloed to the win at Courchevel two days earlier. It will surely remain one of the high points of his career, and speaking afterwards that day he insisted that he would take a stage win over a top-10 place any day of the week.
But when both are on the table, things are different.
With a brutal week in the high mountains out of the way, and a jaunt to Pontarlier that for all the world had ‘sit back and watch the break go’ written all over it, few expected the battle for the GC to reignite, like a lethargic firecracker suddenly crackling back to life.
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While isolated O’Connor searched in vain for fellow riders to help him take up the chase, Jegat’s group were minutes up the road, slowly extending the gap over O’Connor and co past the crucial four minute mark and beyond, as they fought to stay in touch with eventual winner Groves.
O’Connor ended the day exactly six minutes in arrears to Jegat and seven-man chase group he rode in with, which included Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Time Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
Speaking about Jegat, TotalEnergies directeur Lilian Lebreton said: “This Tour confirms all the good things that we think about him. Today he’s the leader of the team, plain and simple, and we have a lot of things to do together.”
Lebreton said that the initial plan had been to win a stage with Jegat, who has been very active in the breaks – to the point where he has been put forward as one of the eight nominees for the Super Combativité award. But it soon became apparent that a high GC placing could be on the cards. The fact that the 26-year-old Breton remains well recovered doesn’t hurt either.
“The initial objective was to win a stage,” Lebreton said. “As the race went on, we realised it was possible [to ride for GC]. It then became an objective: to do the best possible, whether that was 11th, 12th, 10th. His mentality pushed him to make the top 10. It’s super for the team.”
He added: “Jordan is quite fresh. You might think he’s quite fragile, but he resists, physically, and recovers really well. I think that, over three weeks, and notably with this Tour de France that we’ve had, one of his best assets is his mentality.
“Now, our aim is to keep the Jordan Jegat that we know, and protect him a bit from the fervour around him… The real work that’s next for him is to concentrate on everything he does, motivate himself, but also to have fun doing it every day.”
Jayco AlUla sports director Steve Cummings took a pragmatic view of the situation, although shared some of O’Connor’s frustration at the reticence of other teams to help with the chase.
“[The stage win] was the priority… but the objective of today was to try and take top-10,” he said. “It was just a bit chaotic in the start, unfortunately we were isolated, and then it was difficult. Jegat had a good day, congrats to him.
He added: “I was surprised because there were a few other teams who missed out who had other riders there who you thought maybe they could have helped in one moment but that’s racing, isn’t it.”
As for O’Connor’s gesturing, Cummings declared it “normal” for a rider who wears his heart on his sleeve: “Every person who is involved in the Tour lives it as well. Not just these three weeks, just getting here. He [Ben] is certainly one who wears his heart on his sleeve and that’s what makes him a great rider. It’s normal.”
“Top 10 is great, because people always look at the top 10, but if you asked if he’d rather be top 10 or win a stage, he’d take the stage win every day.”
Moreish it may be, but whether it’s cycling glory or your favourite snack, sometimes you have to wait for your next helping – which can in turn make it all the sweeter when it comes. And if O’Connor and Jegat can keep doing what they’re doing, there’s certain to be another slice for them both. The Tour might be (almost) over, but the season isn’t.
