In the last two editions of the men's Santos Tour Down Under, Jayco AlUla have rocked up to the start line with the jersey of the Australian road race champion proudly on display and radiating team camaraderie, stoked by a successful season-opening campaign. This year brings a different scenario.
The green and gold jersey of the national champion is on another rider's back, Patrick Eddy (Team Brennan), even though the nation's only WorldTour squad entered into the January 11 title chase with an overwhelming number of key favourites – defending champion Luke Durbridge, three-time winner Luke Plapp and Ben O'Connor.
Yet Durbridge's solo effort was caught 800m from the finish, Plapp was beaten by Eddy in the final two-way charge to the line, and the in-race dynamics among the Australian squad caused consternation and debate.
"Any company, team, business has its ups and downs, right, so you have to go with those mistakes or problems, work through it, speak," said O'Connor when asked in a pre-race media conference about the fallout from Perth and whether the team had the cohesion it needed ahead of the Tour Down Under. "It's all about communication, relationships, and also knowing what your job is.
"This is probably our first, or second most important race on the calendar, bar the Tour de France, so we have to make sure we get the job done."
That will be a task that is likely to rest largely on O'Connor's shoulders on a course that leans more towards the climbers this year, though he warns the race, which the Australian squad hasn't claimed the overall win at since 2019, is still open to a wide range of rivals.
The climbs have a greater presence at this year's race - which runs from January 20 to 25 - while in the past, it has often been decided by such narrow gaps that bonus seconds are crucial. However, the ascents aren't so long as to be knockout blows for all but the hardiest of climbers.
"That's kind of the key change to this year's race, that you can create a bigger gap, rather than relying just on bonus seconds but, if you look at the quality of of the men around you, all of us can climb very well over 15 minutes," he said while sitting in the media conference on Tuesday with a line up including defending champion Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and last year's runner up Javier Romo (Movistar). "So, yeah, it's a big change, but at the same time, not so big of a change. You have still got to fight every day."
O'Connor is leading the Jayco AlUla squad for the opening WorldTour race of the season. The team also includes Plapp, Mauro Schmid, Durbridge, Rudy Porter, Hamish McKenzie and Kelland O'Brien, which gives the team options to spread the responsibility for chasing results beyond O'Connor, particularly with Schmid and Plapp.
"Hopefully we can have almost the three of us playing around, fighting for stages or fighting, obviously, for the overall as well," said O'Connor in the hours ahead of the race-opening prologue on Tuesday evening. "You know, it's something that's been shown over the recent couple of years, just knowing its numbers, numbers in finals, and if you have got three guys in a group of ten, the chance of winning is much, much, much higher."
And winning is clearly a priority for Jayco AlUla at their home WorldTour race, particularly given they have brought out O'Connor this time to lead the charge. The rider, who joined Jayco AlUla at the start of last season, skipped the Australian racing block last year as his eyes were firmly trained on goals later in the season, particularly the Tour de France. This year, however, both the home racing and July's Grand Tour are on the agenda.
"It's always the hot ticket. It is the biggest race of the year, so it's always the number one that you want to aim for and just keep winning at again," said O'Connor. "I've had a couple of good successes there, so I wouldn't mind adding to it."
O'Connor has two stage wins on his Tour de France results tally and also secured fourth overall in 2021. When asked what his target will be in 2026, he said that chasing stage wins was what brought him the most joy.
"I mean, that's probably the most fun part of our racing at the Tour, winning stages. I guess GC gives you another accomplishment for the overall success that you've had from day in day out, but I think I prefer winning stages at the Tour," he concluded with a laugh.
