Ben O’Connor was one of the standout successes of the Tour de France, finishing fourth at his first attempt. He tells Procycling how he achieved it with grit, attacking elan, and with the help of his team

Writer Adam Becket Image Chris Auld

O’CONNOR

Grand tour cycling and test cricket have a lot more in common than you might think, for two sports that look and operate in such completely different ways. Both have a complex narrative that ebbs and flows. There is the impact of outside factors such as the road surface, the pitch, the weather, and the time of year. These affect both cycling and cricket in a way that just does not happen with a game of football, for example.One crucial part of both cricket and cycling is the mental fortitude and patience that is needed to succeed, especially if you are a rider looking for a finish high up in the general classification, or an opening batsman trying to dig in at the start of the match in order to bat the opposition into physical and psychological submission.

Ben O’Connor has been both at points in his life. Not quite a test cricketer, but an opening batsman for his school’s first XI, and has now finished fourth at his first ever Tour de France. He enjoys both sports because they are not static, not set: they take place in the real world. Another Western Australian, Justin Langer, was one half of the most successful test opening pair of this century, alongside Matthew Hayden. They were famed in the cricketing world for their grit and determination,the same qualities that O’Connor takes pride in.

Speaking to Procycling ahead of the Tour’s final stage in Paris, the Ag2r Citröen rider says: “It is not what I thought would happen, and nobody would have thought that I could ever have finished fourth. Maybe I could do 10th, I thought, possibly, but I guess it’s a good lesson in resilience for everyone, to never give up and keep pushing. Even just in general life too.

“I remember on one of the Andorra stages, someone shouted, ‘Hold on Benno, dig deep’, which is such a classic Aussie saying.Like dig in. It was just before the top, and I managed to get back for the descent, and it motivated me. That’s an Aussie attribute, just grit.”

The Western Australian thrived in the pouring rain to Tignes, to solo to win stage 9

Images: Chris Auld (left), Tim de Waele/Getty Images

O’Connor showed a great deal of grit in this year’s Tour, coming down in the first big crash on day one, the one caused by a spectator with a sign. He thought at that point that his race was over, in the mistaken belief that his shoulder was broken. However, with stitches on his arm after a collision with a chainring, he fought from 40th on general classification up into the top 10, and finished in very lofty company.