Following his impressive victory in his first race of the season at the Vuelta a Murcia, Australia's Ben O'Connor will be gunning for an top ride overall in his debut participation in the UAE Tour, say his Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team.
O'Connor had never won so early in the season, but in Murcia, the 28-year-old from Perth was able to drop Classics specialist and breakaway companion Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) on the final ascent of the day, the Alto del Cresta del Gallo, and solo home to the finish.
O'Connor's main goal for the first half of the season is the Giro d'Italia, but his participation in the Tour de France is still "not 100% decided", team management said at the Clasica Jaén, which O'Connor was expected to start but had to miss for last-minute personal reasons.
However, given his current rich vein of form and excellent morale, team directeur sportif Didier Jannel told Cyclingnews that a crack at the UAE Tour's GC could well become an option.
"Ben was delighted by this victory in Murcia, it was important both him and for the team, he's our leader," Jannel said. "For a rider who's won a big stage in the Tour and finished at the foot of the final podium [fourth in 2021 – Ed.], it was important for him to get off to a great start.
"It wasn't an easy win, the field was a very deep one there, and as a confidence-building exercise for him and the team, this kind of victory is really ideal. He's had a great off-season, spending a lot of time at altitude in Sierra Nevada so he can be up there in races like Tirreno-Adriatico and the Giro."
The first race of the year is "always a voyage into the unknown," Jannel said.
"Like all the teams, we've worked hard in the training camps and so on, but there are always a lot of question marks in your head – I've worked hard, I've trained well, but so have the other teams, so how will it work out?
"So yes, it was a bit of a surprise to see Ben was so strong so soon, but so much the better. We're not going to complain. We know he's put in the groundwork, but it's never easy to win a race, so we're very satisfied with both the individual and the collective performance there."
O'Connor's participation in the Tour de France, where he has spent his last three summers, is not 100% decided, Jannel said.
"His focus is on the Giro d'Italia for now. That's the priority for the moment. The Giro is a course he loves, where he's already won a stage, and there's the UAE Tour, another good test for him before Tirreno, then the Tour of the Alps and the Giro.
"The rest of the season is still to be discussed," he added. "We're opting on keeping our focus on the races we know he's going to do up to May, and then we'll see."
In terms of the Giro, Jannel says an overall bid is possible, even though the route is not as mountainous as in recent editions, and there are two medium-length time trials.
"He's progressed well in his time trialling," Jannel said. "And he's a big fan of racing on his TT bike, so we want to go for as good a result on the GC as we can get. Quite apart from the mountains, we're looking hard at how we can protect him the best we can on the flat stages."
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale have regularly shone brightly in the Giro d'Italia. In the last three editions, the team has racked up stage wins courtesy of Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Andrea Vendrame as well as the mountains classification for Geoffrey Bouchard.
Domenico Pozzovivo's sixth place in 2017 is the team's best Giro GC placing in recent editions, and the hope is that O'Connor can continue the team's tradition in the Italian Grand Tour, and perhaps improve on it.
"Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale have a long history of doing well both in the GCs and stages of Grand Tours, so we'll be aiming to build on that, to do as well overall and fight for a stage win," Jannel said.
First up on the road to May's Grande Partenza in Piemonte, is the UAE Tour and Jannel confirmed that O'Connor will be in the hunt for the GC.
"Of course, of course – the course is very much the kind he likes, some serious mountain stages and also a time trial," he said. "The wind is always a massive factor in UAE as well, but Ben is really good at getting in the mix when it comes to moving around in the peloton, too.
"So, we are really hopeful he will be able to come up with a great overall performance there."
