Tour de France 2021: Ben O'Connor wraps up fourth place in debut Tour de France

Brendan Bradford

Tour de France 2021: Ben O'Connor wraps up fourth place in debut Tour de France image

Australian Ben O'Connor has wrapped up fourth spot at the Tour de France after battling through a tough stage 20 time trial overnight. 

In his debut Tour, O'Connor started the stage with a 32 second advantage over fifth placed Wilco Kelderman, and clocked 38 minutes, 34 seconds to finish 31st on the 30.8km course. 

It wasn't easy, but his time was enough to hold onto fourth spot by just 11 seconds. 

"I'm really suffering now," O'Connor said afterwards. 

"That was actually really horrible. I'm really tired and I'm just so happy now that we've made Paris.

"Just to make Paris is special, but now that I'm fourth overall is wild. It's special and something that I'll never forget."

Unheralded before the 2021 Tour, O'Connor burst to prominence with a remarkable solo win into Tignes on stage nine.

The win propelled him into second overall behind eventual winner Tadej Pogacar, but the next two weeks provided a stern test for the West Australian. 

He slipped to fifth on the brutally tough stage 11, which featured two ascents of Mont Ventoux, and was in sixth spot after the hilly stage 14 into Quillan. 

The 26-year-old remained strong through the Pyrenees as Guillaume Martin and Rigoberto Uran slipped out of the top five heading into the third week of the Tour. 

O'Connor's fourth-place finish comes less than a year after Richie Porte became just the second Australian to finish on the podium when he rode into Paris in third place behind Pogacar and Primoz Roglic in 2020. 

"I had a moment yesterday with the crowds where I got the emotion and the feeling," O'Connor said after his time trial. 

"But I think when I get to Paris, I'll probably break down. 

"I'll see my fiance and my family, and be a very happy man."

Belgium's Wout van Aert continued his incredible Tour by winning the penultimate stage time trial, clocking 35 minutes, 53 seconds. A one-day classics specialist, van Aert won stage 11's double-ascent up Ventoux, and finished the time trial 21 seconds ahead of Kasper Asgreen. 

Jonas Vingegaard was third on the day, 32 seconds behind van Aert, a result that confirmed his second place overall almost two minutes ahead of third place Richie Carapaz. 

Yellow jersey winner Pogacar finished the stage in eighth place and will take a five minute, 20 second advantage over Vingegaard into Paris.

Manx Missile Mark Cavendish will wear the green jersey on the final day in Paris, but Australian Michael Matthews is a mathematical, but highly unlikely chance of wrestling it away from him on the Champs Elysees. 

Pogacar claimed the polka dot jersey after stage 18, and will also win the white jersey as the Tour's best young rider. 

 

Brendan Bradford