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Ben o’connor (AG2R Citroën team), is one of Cyclingnews new bloggers for 2021 Tour de France. In his last participation, the 25-year-old Australian brings to life the aftermath of his stage victory in Tignes, which also lifted him to second place overall.
This is the first day of rest for the Tour de France. I am in Tignes in our hotel, and I hear a group banging music in the middle of the lake. It’s not great, but it would take a lot to ruin my mood today. It’s because I won a stage of the Tour de France yesterday!
Today was pretty quiet – coffee, phone calls, walk, physio stuff – but last night was special. Many tears flowed.
The process of trying to figure out what you’ve been up to begins when you cross the line, and it starts with shock. I knew I was going to win the stage for a while, but there is always that moment of wonder, especially when you stop having to climb that massive mountain. I was just out of breath. It was madness. It took me a while to regain my composure.
One of the first people I saw was our team manager, Vincent Lavenu, and it was cool how emotional he was. It’s so important for a France team. He said ‘you are a champion today, you are THE champion today, you are our champion’. It reminded me of the emotion of Matt White when Daryl Impey won the Tour de France. Vincent took a leap of faith in me and seeing this emotion, when someone invests in you, is quite special.
Behind the podium is the only moment you have to yourself. Until Benoît Cosnefroy rocks with his huge smile and gives you a big hug. I didn’t expect to see him there, and he was so happy, so it was a cool time.
Our hotel was very close and you wake up and everyone hugs you. I went back to my room, picked up my phone, and it was a bit of a joke to see all the messages. Some things, especially from my friends back home, were just hilarious. There were videos of people celebrating, messages from former cricket and football coaches. Apparently the premier of WA congratulated me as he gave the bloody Covid update on national television. My sister was even interviewed on television. It’s ridiculous. When Jai Hindley was leading the Giro there was no show for him, which I thought was a real shame, but the Tour is like another world.
Around 8:30 p.m., I went downstairs for dinner and had a beer. Just one, but I could have had a lot more, let me tell you. Being second overall, the allowance is much lower than it would have been. If I wasn’t on GC I would have sunk five or six for sure.
Then the champagne came out, a little chin-chin, a nice speech from Vincent, a little song, and then the toast. It was the most stressful part of the whole day, trying to say a few words in French. I told them how much I appreciate teamwork, team happiness, courage and attitude. I knew the words, it’s just that my pronunciation can be pretty bad sometimes, because they got it… I think!
After that, we all chatted all evening, catching up, thinking. I had no idea how close Greg was to running out of time, and had no idea Nans had given up until Oli mentioned it. It puts things in perspective. You get carried away to the podium and carried away by all the madness so it was great to chat and reflect on the day, with the runners and also all the staff because that’s what they work for, and that means so much to everyone.
Talking is kind of like my thinking time, so it helped me figure out how I was really feeling. It was just a happy time.
And now?
I could never have imagined this a week ago. I thought my Tour de France was over from day one. I couldn’t move my shoulder, I couldn’t get out of the saddle, and I had stitches all the way down my arm. I felt bad the second day, and I only held on to it in a sort of blind hope.
My first goal for this Tour was to get to Paris, so when I found out nothing was broken I realized I was still there, I can start to heal, I don’t bomb on the first day . The time trial was nothing special, but that long day on Friday was when confidence really started to return. It was a difficult stage and I felt good all day. Then we hit the Alps, and obviously things went pretty well there.
What shall we do now? It’s funny, I was on the massage table last night and the trainer told me ‘take advantage, but remember that the race is far from over’. It was a good reminder. Like I said, the number of beers says it all.
I’m in second place and feel like I belong to the GC conversation. I was with these guys at the Dauphiné, in Romandie, and the Tour might be the Tour, but they’re still the same guys.
The thing is, I already have that stage win so I don’t think I have to worry. I don’t think ‘ah I have to get on the podium now’. No. I’m going to ride as fast as I can and if it’s not fast enough, you’re good to go. It’s liberating. If I do my best every day, I know I can be up there, but I’m not worried. I was worried, but not anymore. Long live the Ventoux.
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