After two weeks of cycling up Spanish mountains Ben O'Connor was enjoying a break on Monday as the peloton savoured a rest day in the Vuelta a Espana.
So far the West Australian has ridden 2,425.4km, the last 1,495km wearing the leader's red jersey after his epic win on stage six. He has six stages to go, another 872.6km to ride, before the finish with a time trial in Madrid on Sunday.
Should the 28-year-old still be ahead of the field at the finish he will become the first Australian to win the Spanish grand tour, completing the set after Cadel Evans won the Tour de France in 2011 and Jai Hindley the Giro d'Italia in 2022.
In holding on to the leader's jersey for ten days O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) has already made his mark, eclipsing Phil Anderson's nine days in yellow during the 1982 Tour de France to be the leader of a grand tour longer than any other Australian.
"Really? I'm proud," said O'Connor, when told of the landmark. "That's pretty special. I can be happy with myself, happy with the boys. That's really a magical moment for myself."
O'Connor's lead is down to one minute, three seconds after Primoz Roglic chipped away another chunk on Sunday's stage 15 on the latest brutal climb.
It would have been more but Roglic had a 20-second penalty imposed after the stage for 'drafting' - riding in the slipstream of the team car, after changing his bike.
Tuesday's stage threatens to be just as tough, a 181.5km slog across Asturias from Luanco to Lagos de Covadonga, featuring two category 1 climbs before ending in a fearsome 12.5km, 1000-metre ascent on a steep gradient.
Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) won La Vuelta in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and the Giro in 2023, and most pundits expect him to catch O'Connor who has insisted he is just taking it day-by-day.
The Slovenian was not assuming anything however, being full of praise for O’Connor.
“He’s in really good shape. He’s a great rider, he already achieved some really big results, so in those terms, it’s not such a big surprise that he’s leading the race," said Roglic, 34.
“He gained the time with an incredible performance (on stage six), he just rode alone away from all of us, and for the moment he’s still riding really strong.”
This is O'Connor's tenth grand tour with his best general classification result being fourth at the 2021 Tour de France and this year's Giro. His other top-10 finish was eighth at the 2022 Vuelta.
