‘About time’: Aussie outshines world’s best with stunning Tour triumph on ‘brutal’ mountain stage

Australian Ben O’Connor won stage 18 of the Tour de France with a world-class climb over three Alpine mountains on Thursday as defending champion Tadej Pogacar tightened his grip on the yellow jersey.

O’Connor, 29, took off alone 15km from the finish and navigated the mountain mist to win 1min 45sec ahead of Pogacar atop the Col de la Loze.

The stage victory was an emotional one for the Aussie, who coming into the race had aspirations of fighting for the general classification.

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However, those goals were quickly dashed after a stage 1 crash which he said left him “pretty banged up”.

“It’s a pretty cruel race,” O’Connor said to reporters.

“I’ve just found myself on the deck in the first two days a few times, but not really for my own fault. Stage one here, it wasn’t my fault. I was just taken out.”

Crossing the line, O’Connor raised his arms in celebration, screaming into his bike “yes, yes” after he came away victorious in the brutal mountainous stage.

“It’s a rough race, it’s the biggest race in the world but it’s for sure the cruellest. I’ve wanted to have another victory for so many years now,” he said.

“I’ve been fighting with thirds and fourths and so close, but I couldn’t be more proud of myself.

“It’s what the team needed and it’s what I needed, so good.”

O’Connor’s last stage victory came in 2021, with his bold attack paying dividends for Australian team Jayco Alula, who he joined from AG2R Citroen based in France this season.

“It’s about time I finally got a big result on the board being an Aussie rider on an Aussie team,” he said.

Meanwhile, Vingegaard crossed the line in third place, nine seconds behind the Slovenian.

“It was brutal, I’ve never lived anything so hard. The team did well and we had a good plan, but I couldn’t take any time off Tadej,” said Vingegaard.

Pogacar now holds a 4min 26sec lead over the Dane in the general classification with three days to go before the finish in Paris.

Starting the day with a deficit of 4min 15sec, Vingegaard had attacked a massive 71km out.

“Our tactics fell apart when they attacked so soon,” said Pogacar explaining he simply tracked his rival on instinct.

Pogacar eventually dropped the Dane near the finish line to gain another 11sec on the Team Visma rider who won the 2022 and 2023 Tour de France.

O’Connor, from the Jayco-Alula team, said he was relieved to triumph again four years after his success in the Alps at Tignes.

“Putting your hands in the air is an extraordinary thing,” said a beaming O’Connor, who joined Jayco in January.

“I had to go from the bottom of the valley before the last climb. It was the only way to beat them.

Pogacar said O’Connor had put in a great ride.

“Congrats to Ben. How he rode today, that’s his victory.”

Team UAE’s Pogacar is now on the cusp of a fourth Tour de France title, after reversing the roles and sitting on Vingegaard’s wheel, wasting little energy.

He remained vigilant however.

“It’s not over, there’s three days left. It’s so long this three weeks thing. You get annoyed with everybody by the third week. You need good legs and good luck and only then is it okay,” added Pogacar.

German breakout star Florian Lipowitz wilted near the end in his bid for both third place and the white jersey awarded to the best young rider.

The 22-year-old British rider Oscar Onley closed to within 22 seconds. Both riders are making their Tour de France debut.

After 10 opening days of rolling terrain in the north and west of France where Pogacar and Vingegaard kept a watchful eye on each other as emerging riders stole the headlines, the real fight began in week two.

Pogacar attacked Vingegaard on the first mountain, taking over two minutes out of him on one climb as things looked grim for the Slovenian’s rivals.

It was a costly off day for Vingegaard as in retrospect this was where Pogacar made the real difference in the race.

The following day on a time-trial Pogacar whacked another 40sec into the Visma star who did however take over four minutes off the Slovenian on a single stage to win the 2023 Tour.

Friday’s majestic five-mountain slog amid the imposing panoramas between Albertville and La Plaigne will be the last chance for a reversal of fortunes with 60km of steep slopes to negotiate.

The race ends Sunday in Paris with the finish line at the Champs Elysees after three climbs to the Sacre Coeur Basilica along the cobbled lanes of Montmartre.