Australian stage racing specialist Ben O’Connor has confirmed he’ll be making the Giro d’Italia general classification his main goal of 2026.
A Giro stage winner in 2020 and fourth overall in 2024 in the same race, the Jayco-AIUla leader will now be looking to go at least one better on GC this May.
Triumphant on the Tour de France’s toughest day in the mountains in 2025 on the Col de la Loze, O’Connor already has a podium finish in the Vuelta a España, where he took second on GC after a long battle against overall winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in 2024.
“The Giro d’Italia always finds our soft spots,” O’Connor explained about the race that saw him make a breakthrough Grand Tour ride six years ago.
“Maybe it’s just the Italian allure, or maybe because it was the Grand Tour I always believed I’d perform well at.
“The 2024 Giro and the fourth place overall was a good result, but no one likes finishing off the podium. I’d love to change that in the future and can’t wait to be back there this year.”
“Having that long crescendo into the final week of big mountains is something that’s always suited my style,” O’Connor continued, “And it’s been replicated again for 2026, especially the Dolomiti stage.”
O’Connor will be one of the leading favourites for the Giro alongside riders of the calibre of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) and former race winners Richard Carapaz (EF-EducationFirst) and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
There were no specifications in the press release regarding O’Connor’s race program for the rest of the spring prior to the Giro itself, nor whether O’Connor would then make a return to the Tour de France or Vuelta a España in the remainder of the year.
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