Vuelta Espana: O'Connor Faces Pressure as Roglic Climbs Ahead

Australian star Ben O'Connor has suffered the first major setback in the leader's red jersey at La Vuelta a Espana. The man from Perth struggled on the final climb of Saturday's stage eight in Andalucia as race favourite Primoz Roglic attacked for a glorious victory, reducing the Australian's advantage by 56 seconds. O'Connor still leads the race by 3 minutes 49 seconds, but three-time champion Roglic will likely look for blood in Sunday's critical, mountainous ‘Queen’ stage.

“Yeah, man, got a bit hot. It was so hot,” sighed O'Connor, putting on a brave face after finishing 17th in Saturday's stage. Roglic powered to his second victory of this year’s race 46 seconds ahead, whereas O'Connor expressed disappointment: “It’s more (time) than I wanted to give away today. It was definitely not my absolute best day. Hopefully, there'll be better days to come.”

The next challenge for O'Connor is the stage from Motril to Granada, with nearly 4500m of climbing featuring three category 1 ascents. However, he feels confident about the challenge. “I don't mind these climbs actually in Sierra Nevada, so hopefully I can have a good day and keep this red jersey on my shoulders.”