It should come as little surprise that Ben O'Connor, who finished fourth in the 2021 Tour de France and fourth in the Giro d'Italia this past May, has made it his top priority not to repeat that finish in the Vuelta a España. Even if it means finishing further down the overall standings. [O'Connor, awaiting the start of his third Vuelta a España and 10th career Grand Tour, said, “Fourth place kind of bums me out.

“I'm close, but not close enough, and in Madrid in three weeks I want to have a big smile on my face like I did when I finished on the podium. Like I've felt all season.”

If he doesn't make the podium of the Vuelta, he said, “I'll take fifth over fourth.”

O'Connor's first race back from the Giro was a late call-up to the Olympic road race in May, where he replaced the injured Luke Plapp, finishing 51st. His success in Paris may have been too early to prepare for the fall, but his subsequent 11th place at the Clasica San Sebastian was a good result heading into the Vuelta a España. Apart from his big GC goal this August, O'Connor said he hopes to complete his “set” of stage wins in Grand Tours with a win in Spain.

“I enjoyed being home,” the 28-year-old said. 'It was a very busy early season and I needed a break.' I needed to get away from the heaviness of the early season.

“La Vuelta always has a slightly different atmosphere. There is always the question of whether braking will win out and whether the GC riders will get a chance to win a stage.

“It should be a pretty fun race.”

“It would be nice to have a shot at both the break and GC. After winning the Tour and the Giro, a stage win would be great.”

O'Connor last ran the Giro and Vuelta combination in a single season in 2019, finishing 32nd and 25th, respectively; even in 2019, he took a promising 6th place on one of the toughest stages in Asturias, the Alto de Acebo.

“The great thing about the Vuelta is that it has a combination of super hard summit finishes and medium mountain stages. Likewise, there are 12-13 GC stages where you can make up time or lose time overall...Another big difference when compared to the 2024 Giro d'Italia is that the weather will be much hotter. Temperatures in Lisbon are already in the low to mid 30s, but they will rise to 37 degrees on Monday and will not drop much lower in Extremadura and Andalusia, Spain, where the Vuelta returns on Tuesday.

“I've only had one day of heat in the 2021 Ventoux, and that was in Ventoux in 2021. I won in Tignes (in the 2021 Tour de France) in the cold and rain, but I wish it had been warmer that day.”

Weather is one factor O'Connor cannot control; another is the presence or absence of certain rivals. And in the case of the Vuelta, the absence of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease-a-Bike) and Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates), the current top two GC Grand Tour names, may make for a more open race. But O'Connor's perspective, as he noted on Thursday, “won't change much”

. Frankly, I'm not concerned about it,” he said.

With or without Vingegaard and Pogachar, O'Connor's ride in the 2024 Vuelta will be his last with Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale and will mark the end of an era as he moves to Jayco Iaia next season.

Given that much of his development as a GC rider has been with the French WorldTour team, a podium finish in Madrid would certainly be a memorable end to a memorable season for the Western Australia native. Not to mention putting an end to his frustrating fourth place overall finish.

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