Ben O'Connor
"The boys were very good
"It's been a long time since I've won a mountain race. It was incredible. The boys were very good today. It's my second win of the year, which is really good. I wasn't confident about a sprint finish, so we decided to give it our all in the last kilometer. Valentin Paret-Peintre almost took me out of his wheel when he attacked, but we managed to pull ahead and I kept going right to the end. I felt really good all day, even with the wind. It's good to be in the race for overall victory before Jebel Hafeet (Ben is 2nd overall)."
The news
A winning tactic
The tactics put in place during stage 3 of the UAE Tour followed to the letter, as sports director Sébastien Joly explains: "Sam Bennett, Gianluca Pollefliet, and Valentin Retailleau did a great job in the crosswinds. Then it was Bruno tour work at the foot of Jebel Jais. Ben O'Connor had asked Nicolas Prodhomme and Valentin Paret-Peintre this morning to make the race tougher at the summit, which they did perfectly after Mikkel Bjerg had controlled the climb for a long time. Ben O'Connor was really strong, it's a great team victory."
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Key number
Thanks to Ben O'Connor's victory at the summit of Jebel Jais, the DECATHLON AG2R LA MONDIALE team clinched its first victory in a World Tour event Tour season.
