Ben O'Connor

Unlike most elite cyclists, who have been racing bikes since their feet could reach the pedals, Ben O’Connor didn’t take up the sport until after he had finished school.

Growing up in Perth with a background in cross-country running, Ben's first race on a bike was in 2013 as a 17-year-old.

“I started racing after school in 2014,” says. Ben. “It was a few years later that I realised I could be good at it and bike riding could be a career. My pathway was different to many others, in that I didn’t go up through the Australian junior system, I kind of rocked up when I was 18.”

Wayne Evans, who runs a Perth cycling shop and a small team, first noticed Ben when he turned up to compete in a state time trial event on a standard road bike.

“He had no time trial wheels, no time trial bars – nothing,” says Wayne. “He did a time of 56 minutes and that was the first time I noticed him, and I’d never seen this kid before that.

“I thought, ‘Who the hell is this guy?’ – he’s just turned up completely out of the blue and rattled off a 56-minute 40km time trial with no time trial gear whatsoever.”

Ben remains grateful to Wayne for spotting his potential and setting him on the path to an elite cycling career.

“Wayne… took a chance on me and gave me an opportunity to join the team and race in the National Road Series,” he says. “He had so much faith in me, he was always saying, ‘You can make it one day’.”

After racing the Tour of Tasmania at the tail-end of 2014 with Satalyst-Giant Racing Team’s development team, Ben stepped up to Navitas-Satalyst Racing Team in 2015.

That year, Ben won the New Zealand Cycle Classic, was third overall at the Tour de Taiwan and third overall at the Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc in France. 

The results began to mount up and in 2018, Ben won a stage of the Tour of the Alps and was sitting in 12th place overall in the Giro d’Italia when a crash on stage 19 left him with a broken collarbone and forced him to withdraw.

In 2019 he completed two Grand Tours, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España. He claimed his first Grand Tour stage win in the 2020 Giro, winning stage 17 after finishing second on stage 16 the day before.

On the mountainous stage 10 of the 2021 Tour de France, Ben got into a breakaway and then rode solo for the last 17km to claim victory. He finished the Tour in fourth place overall.

Through 2022 and 2023, Ben claimed stage wins in several European multi-day races and top-10 finishes in one-day classics, riding with the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale team.

He confirmed his place among the best road cyclists in the world when he finished fourth in the 2024 Giro d’Italia.

Ben had gone into the Giro in good form that included second-place finishes at the Tour of the Alps and UAE Tour.

Battling illness for much of the race and several days of horrendous weather conditions, the Australian was unable to achieve his dream of finishing on the podium – but was more than happy with the result.

“I can’t be disappointed because I gave my best and I think I actually did some really good performances throughout the race that I’m really proud of,” he said.

At the Paris Games that same year, Ben made his Olympic debut. Competing in the men's road race, he finished 51st with a time of 6:26.57.