Ben O’Connor readies for a Tour de France return after an exceptional 2024 season

Ben O’Connor has committed to racing the Tour de France in 2025, marking his return after a one-year break that proved pivotal for his career. The Australian enjoyed a breakout season in 2024, securing second place in the Vuelta a España and closing out his last season with Decathlon-AG2R in fourth position on the UCI world rankings. Reflecting on his 2024 season, O’Connor attributed his achievements to a more flexible race schedule, which gave him the freedom to skip the Tour de France. “Not doing the Tour was a refreshing choice, that the team backed,” O’Connor told Cyclingnews in Saitama ahead of the Tour de France criterium, explaining that the timing also aligned with the birth of his first child, making his absence from the Tour all the more necessary.

Switching to Jayco-AlUla for 2025, O’Connor acknowledged the upcoming season would bring new experiences, particularly in adapting to the team’s two-pronged strategy that pairs a sprint-focused group led by Dylan Groenewegan with O’Connor’s general classification (GC) ambitions. “It’ll be new for me,” said O’Connor, who now heads into his third WorldTour squad. Though details of his 2025 season are yet to be set, O’Connor’s primary target remains clear. “I’m definitely going to go back to the Tour though, that’s for sure. That’s probably the main aim; I’d love to give that race another crack and see how it ends up.”

Reflecting on 2024, O’Connor noted how the break from the Tour gave him the space to excel elsewhere, from winning a stage at La Vuelta and securing second overall to consistently finishing in the top five across other major races. In addition to his Vuelta success, he earned runner-up finishes at the UAE Tour and Tour of the Alps, claimed silver behind Tadej Pogačar in the World Championships road race, and racked up top-five finishes at the Tirreno-Adriatico and Giro d’Italia. “I think it’d be hard to beat as an overall season,” said O’Connor. “To be fourth in the world, that ranking was a bit silly. I really didn’t expect an overall season to be that good. That’s a really honouring kind of number.”

The season was particularly special for O’Connor, who credited his success to the cohesive team support he experienced at Decathlon-AG2R. “Things just worked out as I always envisaged them,” he said, describing his pride in the team’s commitment to both individual and collective goals. “This year it was really rewarding to have, you know, a teammate that could save your day, or at La Vuelta, the group of boys that I had was fantastic – they were selfless, they were proud and they were also really strong, and that team effort was really a special thing.” His final race with the French team saw him hold the red leader’s jersey for an impressive 13 days at La Vuelta, a fitting end to his journey with Decathlon-AG2R.

Now, as O’Connor looks towards the 2025 Tour de France with Jayco-AlUla, he embodies a new chapter for Australian cycling. “To be an Aussie GC guy, going to the Tour with an Aussie team; I don’t know if they’ve really had that before,” said O’Connor. “I think that’s an exciting thing for Aussie cycling, to be honest.”

With fresh ambitions and the support of a new team, O’Connor’s decision to “give that race another crack” has fans eager to see how his journey unfolds on French roads.