Australian Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) conquered the highest summit of the 2025 Tour de France, the Col de la Loze (2,304 m), to claim his second stage win in the race four years after his triumph at Tignes.
The 29-year-old said he realized he “had a chance,” at the top of the Madeleine, the first major out of category climb. “I wanted to have another victory for so many years…I could not be prouder of myself, and the boys that backed me.” “It was worth the shot, … and then it was just about pacing…typical time trial stuff…what I do best.”
O’Connor had covered the final 17 km solo. He dropped his last rival, Einer Rubio (Movistar), with 16 km to go and held off a late chase by Tadej
Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). The Slovenian crossed the line 1’45’’ behind, just ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), who lost 11 seconds including time bonuses. Heading into the final mountain stage to La Plagne on Friday, the Slovenian continued to add to his lead over Vingegaard, now 4’26’’ in the overall standings. The battle for third place and the white jersey is extremely close as Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) gained 1’37’’ on Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), narrowing the gap to just 22’’.
Just four days ahead of the finish in Paris, the riders face three HC climbs – Glandon, Madeleine and La Loze – and an impressive total of 5,450 meters.
The intermediate sprint for Milan
As Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Cyril Barthe (Groupama-FDJ) withdraw, there were now 162 riders left in the Tour de France. The large number of Lidl-Trek riders at the front of the peloton sent a clear message to any potential attackers that the green jersey is very interested in the points at the intermediate sprint at km 23.
No one is looking to upset Jonathan Milan, who fulfills his first mission for the day. But then the battle to break away begins immediately afterwards, with an acceleration by Wout van Aert, followed by Tim Wellens.
Lenny Martinez took the lead at Glandon
After numerous attacks and counter-attacks, two fairly large groups formed on the climb to the Col du Glandon:
At the front of the race, there were Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla), Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Will Barta, Gregor Muhlberger, Einer Rubio (Movistar), Felix Gall, Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Michael Woods, Alexey Lutsenko (Israel Premier Tech)
In pursuit at 30 seconds halfway up the climb were: Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) are riding 30 seconds ahead of Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla), Cristian Rodriguez (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Enric Mas, Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Jordan Jegat (Total Energies) and Frank van den Broek (Picnic PostNL).
Lenny Martinez managed to take the 20 points at the summit, while the peloton trails by 1’50”.
Visma-Lease a Bike changed the script
On the descent, the Jorgenson-Arensman duo took off, but the configuration changed again on the climb to the Col de la Madeleine, where Lenny Martinez was no longer in contention.
Some 11 km away from the summit, the two descenders were caught by Primoz Roglic, Ben O’Connor, Einer Rubio, Felix Gall, Bruno Armirail and Alex Baudin. But their 2’30” lead das Visma-Lease a Bike steps up the pace, preparing Vingegaard’s attack 5 km away from the summit (72 km to go to Col de la Loze!).
The shake-up is radical, with only Pogacar remaining on the Dane’s wheel. The leading duo in the general classification catches up with the rest of the breakaway 4 km from the Col de la Madeleine and finishes the climb with this group. Vingegaard goes first at the top ahead of Pogacar.
O’Connor put the hammer down
Back on the valley, the pace dropped. O’Connor attacked with 41 km to go. Rubio and Jorgenson followed him. The others looked at each other. Lipowitz seized the opportunity to return and attack with 34 km to go. Yet another situation developed ahead of the final ascent of the day. At the bottom, the three attackers were 1 minute away from Lipowitz. And a strong group of chasers – including Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) – got back to the Pogacar – Vingegaard group. They started the climb with a gap of 3’50’’.
O’Connor and Rubio dropped Jorgenson with 21 km to go. And the Australian climber went solo 16 km away from the finish. At that point, Lipowitz was 1’50’’ behind. Simon Yates drove the GC group with a gap of 3’05’’.
O’Connor didn’t look back while UAE Team Emirates-XRG took control of the GC group with Jhonatan Narvaez and then Adam Yates, whose pace prevented further attacks until the last kilometer. Vingegaard tried again but he could not keep up when Pogacar pounced in the final 500 meters, flying past Rubio to take the 2nd place (+1’45’’) ahead of his Danish rival (+1’54’’). Right behind them, Onley (+1’58’’) gained 1’37’’ on Lipowitz and narrowed the gap to the third place in the overall standings to 22’’.
