Ben O'Connor is already the clear leader of La Vuelta a España 2024

It did not disappoint the stage through the mountains of Ronda and Las Nieves. A high-level breakaway in which the Australian from Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, Ben O'Connor, sneaked in, showing great strength and taking the lead with a juicy advantage, immediately making him one of the favorites for the final victory in Madrid.

Ben O'Connor's performance that could earn him a Vuelta

Everyone familiar with the terrain of the mountains of Ronda and Las Nieves, between the provinces of Cádiz and Málaga that the stage 6 of La Vuelta a España 2024 covered, knew that today was going to be an eventful stage, although probably few expected anything other than a breakaway with high-level riders competing for the stage victory, while the favorites in the peloton saved themselves for the weekend.

The stage started in Jerez, with a completely unusual setting like the facilities of the Carrefour supermarket in this city, specifically from inside the store, in order to showcase the main sponsor of La Vuelta. Ahead was an initial approach to enter the mountains through the tough Boyar pass. After that, extremely tough terrain, no flat sections at all, with ascents to the Viento pass, Martínez pass, and the finish in the town of Yunquera at the top of Las Abejas.

Even before the first difficulties, the sixth stage of La Vuelta a España 2024 was already broken, with a group of more than 30 riders with well-known names, but quickly the cream rose to the top on the ascent of El Boyar. There were then 12 riders in the lead, with names like Ben O'Connor, Pelayo Sánchez, or Jay Vine, but with the peloton chasing closely behind, as Ben O'Connor was only 1'56 behind in the general classification, and other members of the group like the German from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe Florian Lipowitz was at 1'50 and the cyclist from Kern Pharma Urko Berralde at 6'02'', posing a significant threat for the general classification, especially in the case of the Australian rider who, let's not forget, finished 4th in last year's Tour de France, a position he repeated in the last Giro d'Italia.

In a terrain of uncertainty, once the pass was behind them and with less than 100 kilometers to go, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, which had been leading the chase, decided to ease off, a situation that was first taken advantage of by Marc Soler and then by Wout van Aert to try to join the breakaway, but they were quickly caught by the riders of the German team, which also forced the breakaway to keep fighting to consolidate, which would happen a few kilometers later when the peloton finally gave its blessing to the escapees despite their dangerous composition.

In fact, the gap quickly widened to over 4 minutes in a situation where it could be assumed that Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe could afford to lose the lead in order not to exhaust the team on such tough terrain. What they surely did not expect is that, still far from the finish line, on the Viento pass, Ben O'Connor attacked in the company of Gijs Leemreize, distancing themselves from their companions. A trio formed by Berralde, Pelayo Sánchez, and Marco Frigo tried to neutralize them after the pass, but they gradually fell behind due to the intense pace of the leading duo.

While the gap with the peloton continued to grow without anyone clearly taking on the task of chasing, in the case of Red Bull, who knows, maybe Primoz Roglic was not having a good day. The UAE Team Emirates also appeared timidly, but none seemed willing to decisively reduce the gap.

This led to the next climb, Puerto Martínez, a short and tough challenge where Ben O'Connor, aware of the opportunity presented to him, went solo for the stage victory and the lead, further increasing the gap over all his pursuers on a truly outstanding day for him.

The Australian reached the finish line in Yunquera with a whopping six and a half minutes ahead of the peloton, placing him as the clear leader of the general classification with a remarkable 4 minutes and 51 seconds lead over Primoz Roglic, an advantage that will be very difficult to overcome since Ben O'Connor has already shown his strength in grand tours and there are only 24 kilometers of time trial left in the final stage in Madrid, where riders like Roglic or Almeida are more favored than the Australian.

Stage 6 Classification

1. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) 4h28'12''
2. Marco Frigo (Israel-PremierTech) +4'33''
3. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +5'12''
4. Clément Berthet (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +5'12''
5. Cristian Rodríguez (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +5'12''
6. Gijs Leemreize (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) +5'12''
7. Mauri Vansevenant (Trex-QuickStep) +5'35''
8. Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) +6'02''
9. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) +6'31''
10. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +6'31''

General Classification

1. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) 23h28'28''
2. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +4'51''
3. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +4'59''
4. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +5'18''
5. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) +5'23''
6. Cristian Rodríguez (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +5'26''
7. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +5'29''
8. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny) +5'32''
9. Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +5'38''
10. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +5'49''