photo credits @ La Vuelta
Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) powered his way to victory in stage 6 of the Vuelta a España today, not only seizing the day’s honors but also moving into the lead of the overall standings.
The Australian rider commenced a fierce attack along the 185.5km stage to Yunquera to claim the win ahead of solo chaser Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), while Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) sprinted in for third.
O’Connor now leads the triple champion Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) by 4’51”, becoming the 111th rider to take stage wins in all three of cycling’s Grand Tours.
Earlier, O’Connor was part of a 13-rider breakaway, which finally went clear towards the end of the first climb of the day after a ferocious opening two hours of racing in southern Spain.
An initial attack from O’Connor saw him go clear with the Dutchman Gijs Leemreize (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), before pushing on alone on the penultimate climb of the day inside the final 30km, while a crash involving Frigo hindered the Italian’s attempts to bridge over to the lone leader.
O’Connor was all smiles as he soaked up the applause at the finish, crossing the line over four-and-a-half minutes clear of Frigo, with Leemreize caught by a group of chasers just ahead of the line. But with the peloton coming home a whopping 6’31” down.
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