Ben O'Connor Prevails in Vuelta Espana’s Fierce Queen Stage

Vuelta Espana: O'Connor's Remarkable Performance

Ben O'Connor has defied the odds to increase his lead at the end of the first week of the Vuelta Espana and remain in pole position to become only Australia’s third cycling Grand Tour winner. The man from Perth had looked vulnerable to losing time to his nearest pursuer Primoz Roglic in the Sierra Nevada mountains on Sunday after he had squandered nearly a minute of his lead behind the victorious Slovenian in Saturday's less demanding stage.

Intense Challenges in the Queen Stage

Yet on a day when Britain’s Adam Yates produced a similar race-altering solo win that O'Connor had delivered on stage six, the courageous Australian actually turned the tables on three-time champ Roglic in the brutally hot conditions. While Team UAE Emirates ace Yates went it alone to win the stage by one minute 39 seconds from Richard Carapaz, O'Connor showed huge determination to take the group sprint finish for third, 3:45 behind the winner, thus picking up four bonus points.

• O'Connor increased overall advantage to 3:53 in GC standings.
• High-stakes competition with Carapaz moving into third overall.
• Team strategy and composure proved vital to O'Connor's success.

Every second counts, beamed O'Connor, who’s Australia’s top-ranked road rider. Yates, having made his extraordinary break 58 kilometers from home, was rewarded for his maiden Vuelta triumph by moving to seventh in the standings, 5:30 behind O'Connor.

“I never suffered like this before. It’s so hot out there,