'I am very proud to be here' - Ben O'Connor debuts with Jayco AlUla in Volta Valenciana
European season steps up in Spain and F💦rance, while the women's WorldTour heads to the UAE

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Ben O'Connor makes his debut with Jayco AlUla at the Volta a la Comunitat Val💟enciana in Spain on Wednesday, taking on João Almeida and Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victor✅ious) and fellow Australian Jai Hindley (Reb Bill-Bora-Hansgrohe).
The five-day 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana begins with a 34.3km team time trial on Wednওesday and ends on Sunday with a stage for the sprinters in Valencia. The overall classification will be decided on stage 2 to Benifato and stage 3 to Alpuente. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) are expected to contest any sprint finishes.
O'Connor said he was looking for the 'first big result of the season', with Jayco AlUla🐟 also selecting Jasha Sütterlin, Bob Donaldson, Jelte Krijnsen and the experienced Michael Hepburn and Chris Juul-Jensen.
"Itꦡ will ওbe my first time at the Volta Comunitat Valenciana but above all, it's my first race with my new team," O'Connor said.
"Since I started my professional career, I always knew that, sooner or later, I would be part of the GreenEdge family. For us Australian riders, Team 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Jayco AlUla remains the reference team and I am very 🐈p♕roud to be here.
"My goal is to 🤪give my best and get the first big result of the season. We have a very competitive team, which can do well at the TTT and then it will be up to me to beꦗ strong on the many climbs of the Spanish race."
Jayco AlUla missed out at the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour Down Under but Mauro Schmid made amends by winni🍸ng Su✤nday's Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
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O'Connor was one of the best stage race riders of 2024, finishing second at the UAE Tour, fourth at the Giro d'Italia and then second at the Vuelta a España after spending two weeks in the leader's jersey. He ended the year with second behind Tadej Pogačar at the UCI Road World Championships.
O'Connor, fourth in the 2021 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de France, will lead Jayco AlUla in the Grand T♔our in July.
"I'm definitely going to go back to the Tour though, that's for sure. That's probably the main aim, I'd love to give that race another crack and see how it ends up," he told Cyclingnews during the winter.
"To be an Aussie GC guy, going to the Tour with an Aussie team; I don🐷't know if they've really haᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚd that before," said O'Connor.
"I think that's an exciting thing for Aussie cyclin🦹g, to be honest."
O'Connor s𒉰pent the winter at his Europe൲an base in Andorra, enjoying time with his baby daughter Josephine, who was born in the summer and training with his new teammates.
"It's early season of course but we still have ambitions here. It's the first race for Ben O'Connor with the team and his preparation has so far gone all to plan," directeur sportif David M🎀cPartland said.
"We will aim to do a good race with 🧔him in the GC. First, we have the super important TTT on stage one. This will set the scene for the following stages and how the race unfolds.
"The week overall is a solid one with ꦚthree of the five stages comprising 🗹more than 3,000m of climbing. There is also the last stage and potentially one of the lighter mountain stages where we may see a reduced bunch sprint and for that, we have another new member in Jelte Krijnsen for a result."

Stephen is one of the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.