Injured, the Australian was forced to leave the Tour de France on Monday during the rest day in Morzine.
Special correspondent in Morzine
The AG2R-Citroën team, which had already seen Geoffrey Bouchard leave on Saturday, following a positive Covid-19 test, will have to deal without Ben O’Connor, its leader, injured, retarded and forced to retire, this Monday, in Morzine. ” It was the wisest decision to tell Ben not to go back. The hip pain was just too much. He was hit during the 2e stage. The pain is believed to have been amplified with the cobblestone step. Unfortunately he fell back in the collective fall on Friday which disturbed him again, he has been dragging his misery ever since. Yesterday (sunday) it was almost impossible for him to pedal. We insisted that there was a rest day but we understood that it would be difficult to get him back on his feet, so the wisest solution was to leave the race. Now, we will have to be an actor to project ourselves to the front and aim for stage victories and at the level of the general classification bet on Aurélien (Paret Painter) and Bob (Jungles) who have the capacity to enter the Top 10. We still have great things to do from here in Paris “, presents Julien Jurdie, sports director of the AG2R-Citroën team.
In Copenhagen, the Australian 4e du Tour 2021, winner of a magnificent stage in Tignes and presented as one of the outsiders of the Tour 2022 projected himself with a smile: ” I’m ready. I’m super excited. It’s not the same feeling as last year when I was a little scared. There, I’m ready, I’m here for the race. » 3e of the Critérium du Dauphiné (behind Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard), the Australian wanted to rely on the confidence and accumulated experience ” at each race, I learn something, I hope not to repeat the same mistakes. This is true for the mountain, curbs, cobblestones. That’s the main thing on the big rides, make fewer mistakes. »
This Monday in Morzine, the main interested party did not hide his pain at having to leave the Tour. ” I’ve been fighting hurt and pain for days but yesterday (sunday) it got worse. I compensated on one side and, as a result, I almost only pedaled with one leg. The pain does not allow me to continue. I am of course disappointed. The Tour de France is the biggest race in the world. I prepared all year and I arrived with big goals. It’s hard to feel like you’re sinking and not being able to reach your goal, just because of injury and bad luck. I will recover and then concentrate on the Vuelta, which was part of my initial program, and where I hope to be able to achieve the objectives I had set for myself in the Tour de France. Hopefully I’ll take all the bad luck that has plagued us in my luggage and that the guys will pull off a great finish to the Tour. They are capable of it.»
Unfortunately, the leader of the AG2R-Citroën team was soon limited in his expression and his ambition. After any opening time trial (79e at 1’1”), the Australian fell in the 2e stage, then the cobblestone test (5e step) was quickly a brake. A puncture in the second cobblestone sector, combined with the team’s very distant place in the line of cars (n°21), transformed the breakdown service and the episode into a nightmare (85e at 4’12” that day). Then he fell again in the 8e stage and wandered far from his initial ambition (86e at 49’58”).
Bruised but happy for the group, the Australian had raised his glass and sang at the stage victory of Luxembourger Bob Jungels in Châtel, this Sunday. He who had, once again, finished late (102e at 27’35”). The management of the team preferred to put an end to his ordeal, this Monday in Morzine.
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