[At the start of the second week of the Vuelta a España, Ben O'Connor said, "Wait until the Sierra Nevada." He was speaking about the showdown between overall leader Lemko Evenpoel and Primoš Roglic, but it was also an assessment of his own prospects.

On Sunday, O'Connor put in his best performance of the race on his toughest afternoon to date, staying shoulder to shoulder with Roglic all the way to the summit of the Sierra Nevada, the highest point of the Vuelta. His performance here now only moves him up one spot in the overall standings, but he must believe he can move up even more in the final week.

O'Connor caught up to Roglic's acceleration with about 1km to go, putting him in sixth place on the stage, 1:44 behind the breakaway leader, Timen Arsenmann. Roglic was 15 seconds ahead of Evenpoel, and O'Connor moved up to ninth overall, 8:57 behind the red jersey.

AG2R Citroen's O'Connor struggled in the summit finish of the Vuelta. His longer, more steady efforts over the Alto del Pulche and into the Sierra Nevada on stage 15 made his endurance qualities more pronounced.

"I felt good today," O'Connor said as he stopped his wheels in the mixed zone at the summit, "like I was going to climb hard all day instead of just one climb." That was good for me.

O'Connor was pedaling well when the red jersey group was reduced to five riders with about 15km to go, but the AG2R Citroen rider, who trains regularly in the Sierra Nevada, was cautious in his efforts.

When Enric Mas (Movistar) and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Premier Tech) jumped out midway up the climb, he did not follow them. This was a wise decision.

"At altitude, it is important to control your strength and never exceed your limits. I was a little worried about keeping up with Lopez and Mas, but in the end I didn't lose too much to them," O'Connor said. I think I finished fast."

"It was crosswind all the way up, so I was in the left groove all the way up the climb. But I've done the climb when it was windier, so I'm glad there wasn't a hurricane."

The isolated Evenpoel was forced to do much of the pacemaking on the exposed roads of the Sierra Nevada in a red jersey group with Mas, Lopez, Roglic, and O'Connor lined up behind him. Lemko had to ride. I mean, Lemko had to ride. O'Connor said. 'I sat there and waited. Lemko was riding at his own pace the whole time. And if there was a rider sitting behind him, he would probably be one of the best riders because he is fast."

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O'Connor bided his time on the final slope leading to the summit, but Roglic, another man who had been holed up for weeks in a training camp on this mountainside, had the same idea. As the Slovenian accelerated, O'Connor joined him, leaving Evenepoel alone to hold off Ross. 'I literally tried to jump, but Primosz got there first. He got ahead of me," O'Connor said. He ran all the way to the finish."

Like La Pandera the day before, the long haul to the Sierra Nevada signaled a shift in momentum for this Vuelta. Prior to this Vuelta, O'Connor had not raced since abandoning the Tour de France at COVID-19 and confessed that he struggled with humidity in the early stages of the race. The terrain in the final week was not at all to his liking, but in the Sierra Nevada he looked as if he was beginning to find his pace.

"I don't think there will be another stage like this until stage 20," he said. But I'm looking forward to seeing how the final goes," O'Connor said.