After a promising fifth in Wednesday’s time trial, Ben O’Connor finished in the main GC group on Thursday’s tough stage 5. The AG2R Citroen leader is looking good moving up to second on GC. With the next three stages in the Alps, the Australian and his French team is encouraged. O’Connor finished last year’s race in third in a race with huge importance for AG2R Citroen, which is based near the city of Grenoble where the Dauphiné finishes. O’Connor is coming into shape just before the biggest challenge of the year… the Tour!
“It was good to get through today, it was actually really hard with the tailwind and we were always on the pedals, it was a pretty good chase and a very good fight from the break. It was a shame I couldn’t sprint at the end with a mechanical, but that’s cycling, that’s how it is. I’m just happy it happened then, not five kilometers early. Tomorrow is tricky, I hope the weather stays more or less dry in the Alps, the descent after Aravis is tricky. We also go up a climb I remember from my Tour stage victory from a couple of years ago, so hopefully I’ll have some good memories.”
-Ben O’Connor
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