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Important SN update for SouthlandCan Ben O’Connor replicate La Vuelta form at the Tour de France?
Nicholas Quinlan • July 5th, 2025 7:29 pm
Australian Ben O’Connor begins his Tour de France campaign on Saturday as he looks to achieve a top-five finish at the Tour de France.
The Western Australian will be competing in his 4th Tour de France in 2025 after missing last year’s edition.
While the main focus of the tour will be on the favourites such as Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar and Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard as the two have won the last five Tour de France’s, there is some hope that O’Connor could be amongst the leading pack and contend for a top five spot.
O’Connor has shown that he is capable of a strong performance at a grand tour event. He had a strong 2024 season where he finished fourth in the Giro d'Italia and second in the Vuelta a España, which makes up two of the three grand tours in cycling alongside the Tour de France.
He also managed a second-place finish in the UCI World Championship Road race in Zurich, finishing only thirty seconds behind Pogačar.
In a statement from O'Connor's team, Jayco-Alula, in the lead up to the tour, he is confident that he can find himself in the top five of the tour once again.
“We have a really versatile team and I’ve performed well in Grand Tours in the past, so I’ll do everything I can to get back to the top five, which I’ve been able to finish in at the Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a España, and Tour de France," O'Connor said.
O'Connor also noted that he will be more suited towards the back half of the tour when the climbs become more intense.
“The route is a race of two halves," he explains.
"You have northern France with some extremely punchy stages, and then pretty much, from stage 10 onwards, all of climbs are 30 minutes to one hour long.
"There are some really big cols and passes, so I think that’s where I will be enjoying the race a lot more. They’re the kind of mountain stages I really prefer.
"For me, it’ll be about getting through the first half and then executing in the second half.”
This season, he has managed to finish in the top 15 across four tours that he has raced in, including a 7th-place finish in the Tour de Suisse.
Following these results, SBS Cycling commentator Matt Keenan thinks that O’Connor is capable of replicating his 2021 Tour de France performance, where he finished fourth, also acknowledging his bias towards his fellow Australian.
“I’m being completely biased here, I’m hoping in that top five, fighting for a spot there will be the Australian Ben O’Connor,” Keenan said on the Life of Brian podcast.
“He’s been fourth in the Tour before, he just joined the Australian team Jayco-Alula, Gerry Ryan’s (owner of Jayco Australia) squad.
“And he is all in for the Tour de France. He is the No. 1 GC rider. They have built the team around him.”
If O’Connor were to finish on the podium for the GC, he would become the third Australian to do so, following in the footsteps of Cadel Evans and Richie Porte.
The Tour de France will kick off on Saturday night with riders beginning in Lille for the first stage.
