Australia's Ben O'Connor, who has long considered the Tour de France a relentless and unforgiving challenge, roared back with a stunning stage 18 victory in the Alps to finally bury memories of the crashes he has suffered in recent years.
O'Connor, eyes blazing with determination, launched a ferocious solo attack on the fearsome Col de la Loze and never looked back.
"It's a pretty cruel race," O'Connor said after crossing the line alone at the Col de la Loze.
"I've just found myself on the deck in the first two days a few times, but not really for my own fault. Stage one here, it wasn't my fault. I was just taken out.
"In Copenhagen [in 2022], same thing: sprint finish, crash in front of me, nowhere to go. And then you had the crash in 2021.
"So the first couple days really haven't treated me well at all in this race before."
O'Connor, who won a stage to Tignes and finished fourth overall in 2021, has battled to replicate those highs.
"Getting it done today means a lot to me," he said.
"I'm very proud of myself and very proud of the team."
O'Connor's win came after a bold attack from the bottom of the valley before the final climb, a plan he hatched with his team's sports director Matthew Hayman.
"He told me, 'You've got nothing to lose,'" O'Connor said.
"If you're going to win, you have to go from the bottom of the valley … and that's what happened.
"On the Col de la Loze, it was pretty straightforward. You either had it or you didn't."
O'Connor switched from French squad AG2R Citroen to Australian outfit Jayco AlUla this season, a move he said brought a fresh sense of belonging.
"It's about time I finally got a big result on the board being an Aussie rider on an Aussie team," he said.
Asked whether the stage victory mattered more than a top-10 finish in Paris, O'Connor was emphatic.
"Yes, definitely. Getting your hands up in the air is the most enjoyable thing," he said.
"It's only when you complete a GC (general classification) and you've done a perfect race yourself and you're proud of every single day that you've tapped it out and you've ticked the boxes, then that gives you a different kind of satisfaction."
Jonas Vingegaard's attempt to dethrone Tadej Pogacar at the top of the overall standings imploded in spectacular fashion on the race's most brutal Alpine battleground.
Pogacar defended his crown with ice-cold precision, gaining 11 more seconds on Vingegaard and stretching his overall advantage to a commanding four minutes and 26 seconds after taking second place.
"Today was brutal. Maybe the hardest stage I've ever done in the Tour," admitted a drained Vingegaard after the finish.
"We had a big plan, you saw it, but I couldn't take a second on Tadej. The Tour isn't over, still."
Reuters/ABC
