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 on stage 3 of the UAE Tour were applied to the letter, as sports director Sébastien Joly explains: "Sam Bennett, Gianluca Pollefliet and Valentin Retailleau did a great job in the kerbs. Then it was Bruno Armirail's turn to work at the foot of Jebel Jais. Already this morning, Ben O'Connor had asked Nicolas Prodhomme and Valentin Paret-Peintre to make the race harder on the summit, which they did perfectly after Mikkel Bjerg had controlled the climb for a long time. Ben O'Connor was really strong, and this is a great collective victory.
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The number
Thanks to Ben O'Connor's victory at the top of Jebel Jais, the DECATHLON AG2R LA MONDIALE team has won its first World Tour event this season.
