Ben O’Connor, injured, will not start the 10th stage of the Tour de France – L’Équipe

Fourth in the Tour de France last summer, Ben O’Connor stops the costs on the 2022 edition. Victim of a fall during the 2nd stage, the Australian has since chained disappointments: puncture during the 5th stage, failure in the Planche des Belles Filles then another fall during the 8th stage. Victim of a muscular lesion of the right gluteus medius, he will not leave this Tuesday. The Vuelta as a goal “Given Ben’s physical condition, it was obvious that he should not take the start of the next stage in order to preserve his physical integrity, reacted his manager Vincent Lavenu. The fact that we felt that he should stop and rebuild himself physically and morally relieved him. He will be able to calmly approach the second part of the season with the Vuelta as his objective. “I’ve been battling the injury and the pain for days but yesterday (Sunday) it got worse, regrets O’Connor. I compensated on one side and, as a result, I almost only pedaled with one leg. The pain does not allow me to continue. After a difficult start, the AG2R-Citroën team shone on Sunday thanks to Bob Jungels’ superb solo victory at Châtel. The training will continue to focus on the general classification around Aurélien Paret-Peintre (13th at 3’30 from the Yellow Jersey).