Van Rysel

Van Rysel literally meaning 'from Lille' is the in-house premium cycling brand of French sports retailer Decathlon

Racing

Results

Race Results

Giro d'Italia stage 10: Valentin Paret-Peintre triumphs atop Bocca della Selva

) claimed his first professional victory on stage 10 of the 

, and did so in style, dropping some big names on the slopes of the Bocca della Selva summit finish.

The 23-year-old Frenchman, a featherweight climber weighing in at little over 50kg, was part of a large breakaway group that would contest the stage honours and made his winning move when he caught and passed long-range attacker 

Paret-Peintre had spent much of the final climb alongside 

) but ripped clear of his fellow Frenchman to shut the 30-second gap to Tratnik, before wasting no time in kicking again and going solo.

Bardet himself eased clear of a fading Tratnik but had to settle for second place at 30 seconds, even if he did take back some time on the general classification.

As for those main GC contenders, they arrived in a heavily reduced group just over three minutes down on the winner. There were no big attacks on the climb, which saw Bahrain Victorious doing much of the pacing, but some cracks did appear in the final dash for the line.

It was another Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider, 

, who led the group home with a fierce sprint and while the top three of 

) were all safely in the wheel, the white jersey of 

 (Visma-Lease a Bike) struggled off the back and conceded several seconds.

After the first rest day, stage 10 got the Giro back underway with a short 142km route that contained a mid-stage category-2 climb ahead of the final climb, which measured 17.9km at an average gradient of 5.6% but with some steep stuff towards the top.

The first half of the day saw a huge fight to form a breakaway, with Paret-Peintre part of a 27-rider move. When Tratnik went solo nearly 40km from the line, he formed a chasing group with Bardet, Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) and Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek). After Frigo was dropped early on the final climb, the two Frenchmen had a chat before attacking Bagioli out of the picture, but the alliance was broken just over 3km from the top when Paret-Peintre made his move.

Tratnik appeared to be heading to glory, and Bardet appeared to have the strongest climbing pedigree, but the way Paret-Peintre danced away from both of them left little doubt this was a deserved high-profile first victory for the youngster.

“I can’t describe what I feel now, it’s just amazing,” he said. “I was there to go for a good result and why not win? Now, I have a Giro stage win for my first pro win, it’s amazing. “I saw that the last 4km was the hardest, so I said ‘okay, if I want to attack it’s in the last 4km, so I was waiting waiting waiting for all the last climb, then when I see the last 3km, I attacked.”

As for the general classification, it was a quiet day, with Pogačar retaining a lead of 2:40 over Martínez, 2:58 over Thomas, and 3:39 over O’Connor. Uijtdebroeks conceded 13 seconds but remains in fifth at 4:15, while Tiberi conceded four seconds and remains in sixth at 4:27. Then comes Bardet, who may have missed out on the stage win but jumped seven places and now lies seventh and well in the mix at just under five minutes down on Pogačar. One notable drop was Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) slipping out of the top 10. 

As the flag dropped on stage 10, two riders went clear from the opening kilometre: Simon Clarke (Israel Premier Tech) and Quentin Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck). However, the day’s breakaway would not form quite so easily – far from it. Soon, Alessandro De Marchi (Jacyo-AlUla) bridged across to make three, but behind the peloton was raging with a relentless barrage of attacks.

Hermans was actually dropped by the first intermediate sprint after 52km, where Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) grabbed some points from the bunch, but it was on the subsequent uncategorised climb to Bivio Taburno that things really took shape, with a group of some 25 riders clipping off the front of the bunch.

In there were: Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers), Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Simone Velasco (Astana Qazaqstan), Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Aurélien and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost), Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ), Simon Clarke, Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), Andrea Bagioli, Juanpe Lopez (Lidl-Trek), Will Barta (Movistar), Romain Bardet, Chris Hamilton, Kevin Vermaerke (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Alessandro De Marchi, Filippo Zana (Jayco AlUla), Mattia Bais (Team Polti Kometa), Jan Tratnik (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Domenico Pozzovivo, Luca Covili, Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious).

The day’s first categorised climb was the cat-2 Camposauro (6.1 km at 7.5%), where the large group made contact with the two leaders, although Clarke himself was soon dropped on the climb. Geschke claimed the maximum helping of mountains points to ensure he will wear the KOM jersey on stage 11 on Pogačar's behalf, as the breakaway crested four minutes up on the peloton.

That climb was sandwiched by uncategorised ascents, and on the subsequent slopes of Guardia Sanframondi, the breakaway started to be whittled down to size. Fiorelli attacked for the points at the Intergiro sprint at the top, while Tratnik went solo soon after.

Paret-Peintre found himself in a chasing group with Bardet, Frigo, and Bagioli, while his brother and teammate, Aurélien Paret-Peintre, was in a group behind spearheaded by Pozzovivo.

Onto the final climb Tratnik led by well over a minute, with another 30 seconds between the first two chase groups and a total of five minutes back to the peloton. Frigo was the first to drop from the chase, and there was a certain cruelty to the next blow as Paret-Peintre and Bardet exchanged words in their native tongue before ripping clear of Bagioli from behind in tandem.

Still, Tratnik was a minute ahead and didn’t look to be fading, while the two chasers didn’t seem to have the pace to turn the tables. How wrong that was. Paret-Peintre was simply biding his time, and when he rose out of the saddle to attack Bardet he looked streets ahead. The now 30 second gap to Tratnik was erased in the space of around 300 metres, and no sooner had he made contact than he rose from the saddle once more to go solo into the lead. 

Tratnik had no response, and by then it was clear he was cracking, as Bardet moved up and around him, too. Still, any chance of another late upset was smothered by Paret-Peintre, who looked springy to the last, and celebrated passionately as he claimed a breakthrough victory for himself and continued his team’s rich vein of form in 2024.

There were no fireworks in the general classification, which has a very similar feel as it did at the start of the day. Pogačar has been in cannibalistic mood at this Giro, with three stage wins to his name already, but he and his team were happy for the breakaway, once it finally did form, to sail ahead to contest the day’s honours.

The team most worried about the distance between break and bunch were Bahrain Victorious, presumably wary of Bardet making up to much ground in relation to their main man, Tiberi.

Bahrain pulled in the valley and they also worked on the final climb, by which point the group was down to around 30 riders. Caruso, who’d been in the day’s break, dropped back to perform a big pull on the upper reaches of the climb, when only 15 or so remained. Tiberi then issued an acceleration, but it didn’t have any impact in splitting the group, even if Uijtdebroeks did begin to suffer.

As if Decathlon-AG2R could look any better, Alex Baudin then started pulling that group on behalf of O’Connor in the final couple of kilometres. Arensman was a notable casualty, and when O’Connor opened up and sprinted to the line, more cracks emerged. 

Martínez, Thomas, Pogačar and Einer Rubio (Movistar) could all follow in the slipstream but there was a four-second gap to Tiberi, Jan Hirt (Soudal Quick-Step) and Michael Storer (Tudor), while an ailing Uijtdebroeks could barely complete his final pedal strokes and trailed home a further nine seconds behind.

For everything you need to know about the 

Tour de Romandie stage 1: Dorian Godon wins in sprint 1-2 for Decathlon AG2R

 (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) continued his team’s fine start to the season with victory on stage 1 of the 

The Frenchman capitalised on a disorganised sprint into Fribourg to win ahead of his teammate 

 and Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

The win also put Godon into the race leader’s jersey and netted Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale’s 11th victory of the year.

Godon now leads the race by six seconds over Vermeersch.

After Tuesday's prologue, the opening road stage saw a six-rider break jump clear in the early stages, featuring Fausto Masnada (Soudal Quick-Step), Juri Hollmann (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Patrick Gamper (Bora-Hansgrohe), Raúl García Pierna (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Rune Herregodts (Intermarché-Wanty), and Joey Rosskopf (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team).

The group maintained a lead of around three minutes for most of the stage, and covered the early small climbs without major incident. On the second ascent of Arconciel, with around 50km to go, the break’s gap was down to 2:14 with EF-Education EasyPost doing most of the work and Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor Pro Cycling) dropped from the peloton.

By the time the race hit the cobbled climb of Lorette with 37km remaining the advantage remained at just over two minutes, as Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates) attacked from the back with Richard Carapaz (EF-Education EasyPost) glued to his wheel. David Gaudu (Groupama FDJ) made it three leaders on the descent in the dangerous counterattack but a combination of Bora-Hansgrohe and Movistar brought the trio back with around 32km to go.

With the early break still up the road, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Robert Gesink in particular, put the hammer down and led the chase. With 15km to go the six riders in the break had just 30 seconds and on the rolling terrain before the final, several more attacks would follow. Former two-time world champion 

 (Soudal Quick-Step) attacked twice in the final 10km but was reeled in before a messy finale ensued. 

No team were able to assert any form of dominance in the closing stages, and Lidl-Trek and Alpecin appeared disjointed at times as the sprinters moved up and vyed for position. 

Godon and Vendrame left it late, coming from deep in the front group and surging through through decimated pack as several riders paid for making their efforts two soon. Godon hit the front with less than 50m to go, and with Vendrame on his wheel the result was in no doubt as the pair accelerated towards the line.

Tech

News

Tech News

Is this the era of the all-round bike? – GCN Tech Show

 return to the studio for the latest edition of the GCN Tech Show, in a week that proved to be a little less bruising in the world of professional racing. 

The 2024 WorldTour season has been marred so far by some very high-profile crashes and, 

, this may be partly driven by the new tech which is leading to faster speeds. We received lots of comments on the subject, so Manon and Ollie decided to talk through some of them to dig a little deeper into the issue.

BMC caught the headlines recently when it unveiled the latest generation of the Roadmachine

, along with claims that it would “re-set the standard” for endurance bikes. While it packs in plenty of performance, it’s the versatility and practicality that caught our attention. 

The headline-stealing figure is the 40mm tyre clearance, which outstrips even some gravel bikes, providing the ability for the bike to shapeshift into an off-road form. Add in the down tube storage space and an integrated seatpost light, and BMC appears to have created a bike that stands out from the crowd.

 which is also home to 40mm tyre clearance, while 

 is said to offer performance “tailored for real riders, not pros”. It appears that there is a strong demand for versatile bikes rather than specialists, so are we in the era of all-rounder bikes?

Do you prefer an all-rounder bike or a specialised model? Let us know in the comments.

Alongside the three bike releases, lots of interesting new tech broke cover over the last week. Here’s a pick of the products that caught our eyes.

Van Rysel RCR available to buy… but sells out instantly

 entered the pro peloton for the first time in 2024 as it became bike sponsor of 

That partnership was accompanied by a host of new bikes, including the RCR Pro which went up for presale for the first time on 16 April. Anyone eager to get their hands on the bike will be disappointed to hear that they sold out in minutes, although we’re sure there are more in the offing.

Sold out already: Decathlon opens pre-order for Van Rysel RCR Pro Replica bike

Get your hands on GCN’s new water bottles

 headquarters, we’ve been busy working away on a new range of water bottles in collaboration with Camelbak, including the performance Podium option or a stainless steel model that is designed for extra longevity.

Shop the full range of GCN x Camelbak water bottles on the GCN website

British wheel manufacturer Reynolds has released new lightweight 25mm road wheels. Their shallow depths help to keep the weight to a minimum and are, impressively, dwarfed by the 30mm external width of the rims. This wide width is optimised for wider tyres, which are becoming increasingly popular.

We’re currently running a competition with the chance to win goodies from Topeak, including a PAKGO EX bike box.

Check out full details for the competition

After a few hiccups, the bike vault uploader is back up and running so you can submit pictures of your steed for our presenters to judge. If you’re unsure how the process works, check out our guide 

As always, we’ve had plenty of submissions this week, starting with Brett Barnett’s 

This morning, the pre-order opened for a replica of the bike used by the 

 RCR Pro Replica. The bike is already sold out in all sizes, and the product has since been removed from the Decathlon website. 

 has reached out to Van Rysel to find out how many bikes were made available in the pre-sale.

Decathlon announced its partnership as a co-title sponsor

 of the now, it not only financially backed the team until at least the end of the 2028 season but also brought with it a new range of cycling products. Chief among them were the bikes that the team have been using since the start of the season. 

The team's road bike, the RCR, is an aerodynamic all-rounder that had collaborative input from both Deda and Swiss Side to create a bike that already has 16 pro victories to its name so far this season.

A closer look at the Van Rysel bikes Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale will ride in 2024

The biggest talking point with the RCR Pro when it was first unveiled was its price; coming in at £9,000, the RCR Pro undercuts most of its WorldTour competition by thousands of pounds. In contrast, the likes of Trek, Specialized, Pinarello and plenty of other brands' top-tier bikes all come in north of the £12,000 mark.

It's no surprise, then that this bike has proved popular with consumers, who rushed to get in their pre-orders this morning.

Ahead of the pre-order window Jérémie Debeuf, Product Manager at Van Rysel said: “We are thrilled to announce the upcoming pre-order availability of the RCR PRO Replica. This bike has already proved its worth to the riders in the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team. The feedback has been excellent, and we know that this machine is ready to set the victory counter racing!”

Although the RCR Pro Replica is by no means a cheap bike, it does represent relative value. The bike comes with Shimano’s flagship Dura-Ace Di2 R9200 12-speed electronic groupset and Swiss Side Hadron 500 carbon wheels. With a claimed total weight of 6.9kg, the Pro Replica certainly isn’t carrying any unwanted weight.

A little bit further down the price range are the RCR Pro Shimano Ultegra Di2 and the RCR Pro Force AXS. Both of these models use the same frameset as the RCR Pro Replica but build on this with second-tier components. Both bikes also come fitted as standard with a power meter in the shape of a Stages left crank meter for the RCR Pro 

Shimano Ultegra Di2, and a Quarq Force AXS

 meter on the RCR Pro Force AXS. At £5,500, this model brings the RCR Pro to consumers at a more palatable price.

What do you make of the RCR Pro Replica, will you be rushing to the pre-order? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. For all the latest tech news make sure to head over to the 

De Brabantse Pijl: Benoît Cosnefroy comes out on top

) emerged victorious from an open edition of De Brabantse Pijl, sprinting to victory from a seven-man group in Overijse.

The French puncheur was one of a number of riders to bridge to the lead group following the key climb of the Moskesstraat, and out-kicked his rivals in the home straight beyond the crest of the late S-Bocht climb.

) was forced to bow his head as Cosnefroy roared past, settling for second place after his teammate 

 had neutralised a dangerous late attack from the impressive 

 (UAE Team Emirates) clinched the final spot on the podium.

“I feel at home at this race,” said Cosnefroy, explaining his victory salute of pointing down towards the tarmac, having clinched his first victory after three previous podiums.

“I’m very very happy to win here. It’s never easy to win a race and this one was very hard to read. When I was able to get across to the group it was perfect, and I was confident in my sprint. I wanted to get in the wheel of Dylan and when he launched I thought it was maybe too late but with the headwind, I was able to gain speed and get around him.”

Cosnefroy remarked that when Van den Berg attacked, it was “perfect” for him. The Dutchman agreed, berating himself for being “stupid” and launching a move that ultimately negated his strongest suit: his sprint.

Van den Berg was part of an elite trio, with Teuns and Wellens, that formed on the second of the four ascents of the steep cobbled Moskesstraat climb, but while he’s known for his sprint wins, he proved himself to be a good deal more versatile than that. He piled the pressure on on the final ascent of Moskestraat and then when wheels were let go in the final 2.5km, he decided to press on in a do-or-die solo move.

Without the presence of Blackmore, who had bridged across shortly after Cosnefroy, he might have survived, given the lack of team numbers otherwise. But he “exploded” on the S-Bocht and was forced to drop away as the others contested the sprint he’ll feel he could have won.

In the end, Cosnefroy, who had been on the attack much earlier in the race before launching his impressively snappy bridge to the winning move, was a convincing winner in a big boost ahead of the Ardennes Classics.

Coming after Paris-Roubaix and ahead of Amstel Gold, De Brabantse Pijl forms a bridge between the true cobbled Classics and the true hilly Classics, taking elements of each and taking place on the border between Flanders and Wallonia in Belgium. 

The 64th edition of the race featured a slightly modified route, with the removal of the Hagaard climb from the 20km finishing circuit that was tackled four times. The slight reduction in climbing, plus the absence of the peloton's biggest star names, made for an open race, which constantly threatened to come back for a reduced bunch finish, like in the old days. 

It took a long time for a breakaway to form, with an eight-man group finally going clear on the first climb of the day. However, by the time they hit the finishing circuit, their advantage was tumbling, and it evaporated on the first ascent of Moskestraat, where the first big attacks came from the bunch. 

Nothing stuck on the climb itself but a new breakaway trio formed soon after, featuring Antoine Huby (Soudal Quick-Step), Alec Segaert (Lotto Dstny), and Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X). On the subsequent lap, that group expanded when the attacks came again on Moskesstraat, and then again on the subsequent climb of Holstheide, where Cosnefroy would bridge for the first of two times that day. 

Antonio Morgado (UAE), Lawson Craddock (Jayco-AlUla) and the Alpecin-Deceuninck duo of Søren Kragh and Axel Laurance (ADC) were also part of a group that swelled to nine, but they were brought to heel soon into the penultimate lap. 

When the Moskesstraat rolled around again, the winning move started to take shape, with Teuns taking charge and gapping everyone over the top. Wellens and Van den Berg were the closest challengers and joined on the descent to form a trio that held off a chaotic reduced peloton, where there were numerous attacks but no cohesive chase. 

They crossed the finish line and took the bell with 25 seconds in hand, but Alpecin-Deceuninck, after some dilly-dallying, took responsibility and were later aided by Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale to bring it back to within bridging distance. 

On the final ascent of Moskesstraat it was Van den Berg, nominally the weakest climber, who looked the strongest, with Teuns fading slightly, while Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck) succeeded in jumping across from the bunch. 

They descended to the Holstheide with a lead of 10 seconds, which Cosnefroy wiped out in the blink of an eye with a vicious acceleration. Beyond that climb, more riders from a disorganised and fragmented chase made the jump in ones and twos: Jefferson Cepeda (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), then Blackmore, with Laurance coming agonisingly close to joining before being spat.

The resulting group of seven worked together for a few kilometres and looked to be combining through to the finish until Cepeda let the wheel go behind Van den Berg, who carried on with his turn, looked around, and decided to try and press home the gap that he'd opened by accident. 

He made a good fist of it as the others looked at each other, but the presence of two riders from one team saw Blackmore sacrifice himself and the gap was down to a few seconds by the late ascent of the S-Bocht, at which point Van den Berg's legs "exploded" and he couldn't even hang on for the sprint. 

Blackmore continued to lead the way for Teuns, who was initially rivalled by Wellens, but it was Cosnefroy who showcased the best timing and finishing speed to finally take out the race that suits him so well.

For the latest news, interviews and analysis from the world of professional cycling, be sure to check out the 

 to stay up to date with all of the action from cycling's most exciting season.

Race News

'Preparing for the Tour de France' - Sam Bennett takes four wins and overall at Tour of Dunkirk

As some of the world's best sprinters struggled over the most mountainous day of the 

 on Sunday, 10-time Grand Tour stage winner 

 was enjoying himself in the lowlands of northern France at the 

Despite the race's name, it is a six-stage race, and the 

 sprinter won the sixth and final stage in Dunkirk. In doing so, he sealed the overall title and claimed his fourth victory of the week, as the Irishman returned to form in the most spectacular fashion. 

It had been 10 months since Bennett last won a race and we are now two seasons on from the 33-year-old's last victory in a Grand Tour, but the Irishman proved his new employers right in making their swoop for his services in the winter.

After a promising but unfruitful start to the season, Bennett got off the mark for 2024 with victory on stage 2 of the Four Days of Dunkirk, winning a bunch sprint in Abbeville, before going on to win stages 3, 5 and 6 over the past week. Bennett's form was such that it delivered him to a top-three finish on each day of the race, taking the points classification and overall classification in the process.

"It's quite nice after a few difficult years," Bennett said in a statement released by his team on Sunday evening. "I just want to thank the team again for their fantastic job. Let's focus now on the future... I'm preparing for the 

"The flow is back; I might need a bit more top-end power, but it's progressing."

 that his gym work had suffered over the winter, which can explain his lack of top-end power, but those concerns did little to hold the Irishman back in Dunkirk, with Bennett only missing out on a fifth stage win by a matter of inches. 

Looking for a third successive stage win, Bennett proved himself the best of the peloton's sprinters once more on stage 4, but despite celebrating as he crossed the line, the 33-year-old was denied the win by 

, who managed to hold on from the breakaway to pip Bennett's front wheel to the line. 

Not to be subdued for long, Bennett added to his win tally on stage 5 over a tough cobbled stage that perhaps posed the biggest obstacle to his designs on the general classification win. Positioned perfectly by his Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale teammates such as 

, Bennett won a sprint of three riders in Cassel to set up the final-day decider. 

"My teammates made my life much easier today," Bennett said after the finish. "I didn't have to think about strategy; they did the work for me. I just had to manage the last five hundred meters well, so this victory is primarily for my teammates."

With the job finished off with a fourth victory of the week on stage 6, Bennett claimed the first general classification victory of his career, taking Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale to their 20th victory of the 2024 campaign. It has been a stellar season for the French WorldTeam, who are riding high on the wave of new co-title sponsors in Decathlon and new bike manufacturers in Van Rysel. 

Sam Bennett: ‘I’m the same rider as 2020, I just have to find my mojo

 have now taken more wins in 2024 than they had done in all but one of their previous 16 seasons, needing only five more wins this season to surpass their season's tally from the high mark of 24 set in 2015. 

Bennett has now moved to 67 professional wins over the course of his career and after a near-perfect week at the Four Days of Dunkirk, the Irish sprinter's eyes are now firmly set on the Tour de France, where he looks set to make his first appearance at the biggest race of the season since winning two stages and the green jersey in 2020. 

 all set to lead the GC charge for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale in July, the French team's ambitions will be two-fold should Bennett make the final selection. It will offer the 33-year-old the chance to prove he still has what it takes to beat the world's best, and he will hope to take this confidence into the next block of preparation races for the Tour.

"I still have to discuss that with the team," he said of his racing calendar, per 

. "It could be the Critérium du Dauphiné, but also the Tour de Suisse or the Tour of Belgium. It seems to be the Dauphiné, but that is not yet certain. Hopefully that will be the prelude to the Tour. I'm preparing as if I'm going to do the Tour, so hopefully I'll make the selection.”

Should he achieve anything like he did in Dunkirk in his next stage race, Bennett will prove a tough man to leave out of the Tour de France squad. After a few trying years, the Irishman looks to be on the right path to making his ninth Grand Tour appearance in a couple of months' time. 

For more of the latest from the professional peloton, visit the 

Interviews

'Giro d'Italia climbs play into my ballpark' says resurgent Ben O'Connor

 was just 24 hours out from the first individual time trial of this year’s Giro d’Italia and sitting in 11th place overall. But already, the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale leader gave the impression of a rider who was only just getting started in Italy.

 for the 28-year-old, with his podium ambitions dealt an early blow on the first summit finish of the race, O’Connor was under no two minds that the most important days of the Giro were still to come.

"Day one, I wasn't on my absolute best, but there's going to be minutes shed between other stages. I think this time trial will also be huge gaps,” O’Connor predicted. “I've seen it: some of the times will be close, but I think between other guys, there'll be enormous gaps.”

His premonition was right. A day later, race leader 

 (UAE Team Emirates) produced an indomitable performance to extend his advantage over the rest of the field to 2:36.

O’Connor’s time trial was blemished by a mechanical, but even so, he drew some personal successes from his stage 7 performance.

“Physically, I’m really happy how my effort went,” the Australian said in a statement released by the team on Friday evening. “We paced it perfectly and I maximised my potential. I did drop my chain at a pretty average moment. I stopped and a mechanic helped me to put my chain back up. I lost easily 20-30 seconds there.

“Without that mechanical, I probably would have been 7th or 8th.”

Even with the dropped chain accounted for, O’Connor enjoyed a dependable outing on his time trial bike over the 40km in the Umbria region. Finishing the course in 11th place, the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider moved up seven places on the general classification to end the day in fourth place overall. His gap to third-placed Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) now standing at 47 seconds, O’Connor has plenty of reason to feel optimistic heading into the second summit finish of the race on Saturday.

In the Giro d’Italia, time gaps are often found in peaks and troughs, as the momentum passes between riders and teams. Thomas might have extended his lead on O’Connor by 7 seconds, but it was the Australian and not the Welshman who could end the day with a smile on his face. After the dropped chain, O’Connor had ridden the tough final climb into Perugia in the third-fastest time, gaining 45 seconds between the last intermediate checkpoint and the finish line over the spluttering Welshman. The recovery gave us a hint of what is to come on the mountain stages.

Looking at the race ahead, O’Connor says that the Giro is “a long story”. He’s focused on nailing a consistent three-week performance.

“Even stage 20, you know, with this Bassano del Grappa climb, if you just have a bit of an off day, you can lose a lot,” he noted. “If you're in the wrong group, and then it's all up to you to ride, you can also be in trouble, so it's really one of those races where it's really gonna be just finished when you get to Rome, to be honest.”

This relaxed, analytical attitude is a stark contrast from the fluster and frustration we’d seen from O’Connor earlier in the race. At the team bus on that day, shortly after the finish of stage 2 to Santuario di Oropa, the Australian was still reeling from an ill-fated pursuit of Pogačar that had left his gasket blown on the upper slopes of the climb.

Ben O’Connor: I was the dumbest guy in the Giro d'Italia

“I was brave. I always wanted to try and follow Pog, but I was probably the dumbest guy in the race,” a self-critical O’Connor told 

Asked whether he still stood by those words four days on, the Australian was characteristically honest, but with the sensibility that only time allows.

“Ah, I think it's still true, but yeah, it's past now,” he answered. “Yeah, I just have to focus on every other day coming up. I did lose some time there, but I'll gain time in other places, hopefully, and can be at my best.”

The Australian had called himself the second-strongest rider in the bike race on Sunday, magnifying his disappointment at having flown too close to the sun and melted his waxy wings. Reflecting on that particular comment, O’Connor seemed less willing to assert himself. He pointed to the difficulties that a tough opening weekend brought to all riders, not just him.

“Maybe that was a bit of an overestimation. I 

 very good, but in the end I wasn't. So you can't really guesstimate if you were that good.

“I think a lot of guys were a bit on the limit in general the first two days. I don't know if it was just freshness or the load that we've been doing in training, it's hard really to say, but there were quite a few guys that were panting quite a bit,” he said.

With a fresh mind heading into the second weekend, O’Connor looks to be a rider in the ascendency as he eyes up the mountaintop finish atop Prati di Tivo on Saturday afternoon.

‘Prati di Tivo is a lot harder than the Oropa’

Standing at 14.6km in length and with a 6.8% average gradient, the summit finish that awaits the peloton on Saturday is a different beast than the relatively short ascent to Santuario di Oropa. It is a climb that has a resurgent O’Connor optimistic both for this weekend and for the rest of the Giro.

“Saturday is a much harder stage than the Oropa finish in general,” he said, tipping the breakaway to contest the stage win. “The climb is much longer than Oropa. Oropa went by really quickly whilst this is much longer and much more steady as well. It’s a bit more train-like in the end.

“I’ve never done it, but these kinds of climbs tend to suit me quite well and I think there’s only really long climbs between now and the end of the Giro. Normally that kind of stuff plays into my ballpark.”

Giro d’Italia stage 8 preview: Does Tadej Pogačar’s lead make a breakaway win inevitable?

A former winner of mountain stages at both the Giro and Tour de France, O’Connor can also take confidence from his Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team’s flying start to 2024. The French WorldTeam have already taken 13 wins in a bounce-back year and although O’Connor batted away the suggestion of their team launching an ambush on Saturday’s stage, he did not rule out the possibility later in the race.

It is a prospect that will have fans of the Australian licking their lips.

“I think it will be something to look at but I think it’s something to look at much later,” he said. “You really need to let the dust settle and I think there’s no bad time to do that kind of stuff when there’s a lot of fatigue.

“Hopefully we can do it later in the race because I think that would be pretty cool.”

How much does bike technology really boost performance? - GCN Tech Show

It feels like the WorldTour peloton is still in the early throes of the 2024 season but it has already reached May and the half-way mark in the road calendar. It’s been a season characterised by trends on the bike, namely 

 winning everything, and trends off the bike, with the use of 

. It’s also been a season that has delivered plenty of success for 

, who have taken 12 wins so far this season - the fastest they’ve reached that tally since 2005.

That success has obviously been delivered by its talented riders but, as 

 Tech Show, it could also be driven by the team’s 

. When looking at the team, most of the key elements have remained the same, including many of the riders, but the bikes stand out as being the key difference.

Decathlon joined the team as title sponsors

, bringing its new high-end range of Van Rysel bikes with it. They’ve caused quite the stir in the world of racing and away from it, with the 

bikes selling out hours of going on pre-sale

. It’s perhaps not surprising considering the much more friendly price tag compared to other WorldTour bikes, with the top-of-the-range model with SRAM Red AXS selling for €8,500.

That lower cost doesn’t appear to have come to the detriment of performance, with the bikes performing admirably in tests, so are they helping to drive the team’s success? Check out what Alex and Ollie think in the video at the top of this page and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Tech throwback: Remembering the Decathlon pro bikes of the 2000s

It’s been another busy week in the world of tech, with a new 

 Red groupset potentially breaking cover at the 

New SRAM Red on show at the Giro d’Italia

While there has been no official word yet, an unreleased version of SRAM’s top-tier Red AXS groupset has been in full show at the Giro d’Italia.

We won’t give away all the details here, but suffice to say there are some interesting developments across the groupset, with changes to the shifting levers and derailleurs. 

Check out a full breakdown of the changes we spotted at the Giro d’Italia.

Tadej Pogačar skinsuit divides opinions at Giro d’Italia

Having taken the race lead on stage 2, Tadej Pogačar took ownership of the maglia rosa. Except, in a move that has divided cycling, the UAE Team Emirates rider chose to wear a Castelli skinsuit on stage 3 that blended the usual pink on the top half with a granata on the bottom.

Featuring it in hot tech is controversial in itself, as it wasn’t to the liking of many. Including, as it turned out, the 

race’s commissaires who apparently threatened him with disqualification

 - not for crimes against fashion, but for breaking rules. The UCI has since dismissed such rumours and cleared the Slovenian to wear the mutli-coloured skinsuit in future stages, should he keep hold of the lead.

Van Rysel

Van Rysel

Top Van Rysel Stories

'Preparing for the Tour de France' - Sam Bennett takes four wins and overall at Tour of Dunkirk

'Giro d'Italia climbs play into my ballpark' says resurgent Ben O'Connor

How much does bike technology really boost performance? - GCN Tech Show

Subscribe to the GCN Newsletter