Key Takeaways: Vuelta a España Stage 6

Breaking down how a scorching fast first-week mountain stage has drastically shaped the GC of the Vuelta a España for the second consecutive edition

Ben O’Connor turned the 2024 Vuelta a España on its head after getting into the early breakaway before ripping clear with an incredible solo performance through the mountains of Málaga in southern Spain to win the stage and take the race lead with a staggering near-five-minute gap over former race leader Primož Roglič. While Roglič’s Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team sat back, seemingly unbothered by O’Connor’s ever-growing gap, the Australian underdog continued to build his advantage and make Roglič and Red Bull’s task of attempting to re-take the lead harder and harder. After the dust settled, for the second consecutive year, a first-week long-range raid had given a fringe GC contender a surprising overall lead and significantly increased the complexity of the remainder of the race.

Stage Top Five:
1) Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0
2) Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) +4’33
3) Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +5’12
4) Clément Berthet (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +5’12
5) Cristián Rodríguez (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +5’12

Current GC Top Five
1) Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0
2) Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +4’51
3) João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +4’59
4) Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +5’18
5) Enric Mas (Movistar) +5’23

Stage 6 Race Notebook

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102km-to-go: After a furiously fast start, a strong breakaway rips clear on the slopes of the day’s first category climb. Notable GC contenders within less than two minutes of the lead, Decathlon-AG2R rider Ben O’Connor and Red Bull-Bora rider Florian Lipowitz, are present. With O’Connor having a teammate, Clément Berthet, this is a perfect situation for Decathlon.

96.7km: With the gap hovering around a minute, Red Bull begins to look around the front, likely questioning why they are chasing a breakaway with their own rider in it, especially one who will take the GC lead if the move wins the stage. Behind, UAE isn’t taking the bait.

76.3km: Red Bull settles into an easier, steady pace that allows the break’s advantage to go out to just over three minutes. It may look strange for them to be chasing a breakaway with their own teammate in it. Still, they have to do this to keep the gap from getting too large, which would put O’Connor in position to win the race overall, and they are slowly taking the pace off to coax other GC teams to come to the front to share the work.

69.9km: With the gap to the breakaway at five minutes, Bahrain (riding for Antonio Tiberi), eventually blinks, and comes to the front.

66.2km: Up front, cracks start to emerge in Red Bull’s plan. Heading into an intermediate sprint point offering bonus seconds, Ben O’Connor clips off the front while Lipowitz is caught out behind.

66.1km: This allows O’Connor to get a six-second time bonus, which means if the breakaway wins the stage, he will be the one in the race lead, not Lipowitz.

61.4km: Shortly after, O’Connor attacks again on a climb, this time looking to ride clear, and is marked only by Gijs Leemreize, while Lipowitz, yet again, is unable to follow.

55.3km: By the time O’Connor and Leemreize crest the climb, they have nearly a minute on the rest of the breakaway and 5.5 minutes on the peloton.

31km: Sensing the gap is getting out of hand, UAE eventually caves and puts domestiques on the front to attempt to bring it down.

26.4km: Movistar, fearing for Enric Mas’ podium place, now put a rider on the front, as Red Bull-Bora still sits behind. However, with the GC teams not working together but just parking a rider on the front, not only is the gap not coming down, it is actually increasing, especially with O’Connor now solo and pushing all out.

14km: At the base of the final climb, O’Connor is absolutely flying and continuing to increase his gap. He is now over a minute ahead of his closest chaser and 6’18 ahead of the peloton.

6.5km: Behind, Movistar is still reading the peloton while Red Bull-Bora continues to sit in the wheels, either not wanting to reel in Lipowitz, who is a minute up the road and/or they are unbothered by O’Connor’s growing gap.

1.8km: With O’Connor’s gap now approaching seven minutes, Red Bull-Bora finally hits the front for the final few kilometers of the climb.

Finish: O’Connor sits up inside the final 100 meters to celebrate his incredible win, which costs him a few seconds, and the GC group is led home by UAE’s Isaac del Toro 6’31 later. With his time bonuses taken along the way, O’Connor’s total time haul on the day is a staggering 6’47.

Three Key Takeaways