This feature was originally published in June 2022 in Rouleur Issue 112, support our independent journalism by subscribing here
The hazards in a professional bike race are usually clearly communicated: the immoveable physical ones are flagged up in the roadbook or by marshals standing in front of them: the impermanent ones are relayed on the fly over race radio. Watch out for this corner where the wind changes direction, or that gravelly, off-camber bend, the directeur sportif intones into the race radio. If only you could anticipate a fan gurning at the camera, standing in the road holding an “Allez Opi-Omi” banner, as easily.
That was all it took to cause the most significant crash of the 2021 Tour de France, on the race’s opening day, leaving a quarter of the bunch on the deck at the top of the Côte de Saint-Rivoal in Brittany. As team cars gingerly edged their way past the broken bikes and bodies, Ag2r-Citroën Team directeur sportif, Julien Jurdie, came across Ben O’Connor. The Australian’s right wrist was dripping blood and he feared his shoulder was broken. The debutant had been gouged by a flying chainring and walloped from behind by riders unable to slow down in time. Bienvenue au Tour. O’Connor couldn’t appreciate it then but this was the race that would change his life, in spite of the inauspicious start.
O’Connor had already spent his fledgling years mixing flashes of brilliance with fractured bones, positioning issues and other teething problems while on precarious one-year deals. This looked like yet another test from cycling’s Fates. “I saw his character and his trust in the team there,” says Jurdie. “We passed on the message: ‘don’t give up, get back to the bunch and go all out to the line, and we’ll do the medical check-ups afterwards. It’s the first stage of the Tour de France, you don’t know what can happen over the next three weeks. Don’t abandon.’ He got it loud and clear.”
Meet Ben O’Connor at Rouleur Live 2022
His manager expected him to be six minutes down at the finish in Landerneau; he was stunned to see that he only lost 1:49 to winner, Julian Alaphilippe. “That’s your first victory,” Jurdie told O’Connor afterwards. To him, that stage was symbolic. “It was the way Ben fought not just that day, but also for the next four or five, because his injuries didn’t just go away,” says Jurdie. “Physically, all the riders, apart from the champions, are on a similar…