La Vuelta 2024 - Ben O'Connor : "Primoz Roglic ? He is going to go all in"

uh one of the big moments Sunday was the 22nd time penalty for Primos RIT what's your opinion and how do you think it impacts your position uh well I didn't lose another 20 seconds pretty much and yeah I guess the penalty was dealed out as as they saw fit you know um I actually I didn't even know he change boes to be fair I didn't look around or know so 22nd uh Advantage back to me is Handy that's for sure but you can guarantee that tomorrow he's gonna go all in and uh try get that time back then how excited are you coming into this last week of the of a grand tour as the leader of a grand tour I mean it's I mean it's great it's uh I didn't really expect it but it's uh the exim hasn't really changed since I got the Jersey you know it's like that was already I guess it's Peak excitement and then now it's been that moment of uh heavy work and try and hold on to it now as uh as much as I can so the time loss always hurts and was a bit annoyed yesterday with with that but in the end uh it's uh it's special to have this jersey I think I was told yesterday it was the Australian news H Grand Tour the jersey for the longest time so it's pretty cool fun fact and uh just proud to actually be in this position is there a lot of support is this support starting from your home country from Australia yeah I they're definitely getting around it I had a a call this morning with a with a good friend who's commentating Mitch Docker and Dave McKenzie also is commentating forbs um you know I don't think I was even too intrusive so it's not like you're ever flooded but I've had a really nice reception from friends and people I've known all all my childhood from back and Perth so uh yeah I've uh I've definitely felt that you started this F with the dream or maybe the goal to uh reach the podium because it would be the first time you would reach the podium in a grer is the objective changing right now or is still the podium the the main target this week also no that's always been the target I mean I wanted to I wasn't really sure when I came the race so I think the top five was something that I thought I could do um but with with the with Stage six you know the the P chance really became something that was uh that was able to you know something I could search for and take hold of so I hope that this final week uh goes well I can uh be my best and I can try to seize the opportunity my last one now uh you became a father this this summer did it change your um your your your point of view to the whole sport to professional Cy but maybe also this F in particular because you dare to lose in stage six and that's why you're the leader of the race now but does the whole yeah being a father does it change your approach to the sport um no maybe you just even more keenly aware that you're supporting your family I guess especially with the is for Aussie you know my wife is Australian she's you know she moved over from Oz to live here and uh it's something that Europeans really uh can never really understand um so there's a lot more sacrifices going on behind uh behind my you know behind behind my face um with my family that that you a lot of Europeans don't really understand so I think uh it's even more rewarding knowing that you're performing well up do you talk with maybe Jay V because he became F just for the felda I just saw Instagram post of him that he wanted the polka dots yesterday because of his daughter because it was like Father's Day in Australia yesterday something it was Father's day yesterday and know uh I speak luu Jay but yeah in the end uh I'm in the race and leaving this race hasn't really been very chill especially this this second week it's not been a lot of uh relaxation cheers thank you uh other questions in the chat uh what do you expect for tomorrow in Lagos konga um it's a pretty hard day uh and I think it's kind of expecting same old same old for this last uh like it was last week um yeah I to be H I haven't really thought about how us it's going to play out just think about how we are going to go and approach the race and that's kind of about it to be honest another question from Andrew Hood if you're betting M what are your odds of winning this wter what do you need to do this win sorry this week to win uh I don't bet so I'm not gonna do that but I think uh what I need to do is be be my absolute best uh tomorrow that's one of the main ones um Saturday is stage that suits me more so out the almost the whole race but yeah tomorrow is a very very important day to be to be good Ryan Ben um yeah just obviously you raced a lot of gr tours in your career but this is first time you you've raced one as as a leader and for so long I mean how does your fatigue level feel two weeks into this we compared to other grand Tours I mean does the red jersey give you wings or is everything that comes right at the podium press conferences kind of away that adds to the fatigue no I the fatigue is any different to be honest compared to compared to the tour I think you're mentally a lot more fried than what you are here in the espania OR in J Italia so there's uh other elements um in play in other grand Tours that that make you tired here for example it's just the Relentless stage after stage always climbing um which isn't like so much bad for me but you know you do I do enjoy a nice easy sprint day every every once in a while and just one more for me I mean you said on after Friday stage you described yourself as as feeling cooked obviously you recovered very well and rode well yesterday I mean were you concerned on Friday that that was maybe a you know terminal thing in this Welter or were you always confident that it was a bad day and that you you know you could bounce back from pretty quickly no no I was just cooked at the moment um if you're properly cooked uh you explode so so yeah uh Friday was a little bit rough but yeah definitely could have been better but definitely could have been a lot worse and it wasn't a saying say I'm absolutely fried and gonna have to parachute out thanks man and the last question from Andrew Hood in the chat next year you move to Jacob how will this experience at the VTA carry over and and help you in your new team what were the main interest for changing teams to jco um I guess it's leading the race is a completely different experience to anything that I've uh I've had the chance before you know I've uh I've been on podiums and Stage races I've been close to winning them as well and I've been there in grand Tours but never have actually led her you know a huge race for longer than a day so I I guess it's probably more your mental uh state with how you approach the whole team and all the boys and uh how you work together that's probably one of the big takeaways I'll have here um and turn to ja you know what it's like it's uh I've been with the cath a d now for four years and uh it just felt like a time that I need to change into a different atmosphere you know it's not because I dislike this team because I've actually loveed this this team um in particular this year so it's got nothing to do with animosity or anything like that it's just a an opportunity to to race with an Aussie team um with an Australian Vibe which is obviously very different to to here so it's a it's a different thing but uh in end I'm trying to finish this race off from the absolute best Note um that I can do with c