Three-time Vuelta a Espana champion Roglič showed that he’s keen to add a fourth to his palmares, winning on a punchy finish to Stage 4.
Behind him, O’Connor positioned himself well on the final climb and didn’t lose any time beyond the bonus seconds on the line as he finished sixth on the day.
“The boys were really good today,” O’Connor said in an interview with Velonews. “We almost managed the heat well today with lots of water. I think we had a really good day.”
O’Connor abandoned the Tour de France with a torn glute, but hasn’t showed any signs of difficulties so far in the race, and no lack of form despite not having raced since the Tour.
“Things went pretty good today. I was happy to make the sprint, but I cannot ‘perfect’ a short sprint. I think I need to take a bit more confidence, and commit to the line,” O’Connor said. “Sometimes I get caught back out of position.
“After the Tour, I haven’t done a proper stage in quite a few months. It will be nice to have some less stressful racing than we saw, and let the legs do the talking.”
O’Connor revealed that he was looking forward to bringing in some fresh legs to the Vuelta after pulling out of the Tour.
“After the Tour was done, it was all about thinking what the next objective is. This is the first and maybe the only time that I’ll be able to prepare for the Vuelta without the fatigue of the Tour,” O’Connor said.
“Now I come here even more ready, but without the same level of stress that comes with the Tour.”
The stage result saw Roglič pull on the red jersey, a familiar sight in recent years at the Vuelta, as he became the fourth Jumbo-Visma rider in four stages to take the lead after they won the opening team time trial. O’Connor’s AG2R-Citroen team weren't as strong against the clock and the West Australian now trails the Slovenian by a minute and eight seconds.
The race is currently in the Basque Country, with O’Connor revealing that he enjoys racing in the region, though he has his focus primarily on the major mountain tests later in the Vuelta.
“I love racing the Basque Country. I really like this style of racing that comes with northern Spain, the inclement weather, the harder gradients, that’s my kind of jam,” O’Connor added.
“I need some longer climbs. We’ll see if you’re good or not pretty fast, but it’s a Grand Tour, you have to be pretty sure of yourself to attack hard.
“You know that later in the second and third week, there are some serious long climbs at Sierra Nevada and Pico Blanco. You don’t want to burn your matches early.”
La Vuelta continues tomorrow with a hilly course in prospect on Stage 5. Watch the race on SBS and SBS On Demand from 10:50pm (AEST).
