O'Connor goes from top of Le Tour to TDU
28 NOV 2025
Photo: Sprint Cycling
Australian cycling star Ben O’Connor, who won the Queen Stage of this year’s Tour de France, has become the first rider confirmed for the Santos Tour Down Under (TDU) in January.
In a huge boost for the event, the 30-year-old will lead Australia’s Team Jayco AlUla on a climber-friendly course when the 2026 UCI WorldTour season begins in South Australia from January 16-25.
O’Connor is one of Australia’s top general classification riders, having won four stages across all three Grand Tours including two at the Tour de France.
The pick of them came in July this year when he claimed the Tour’s highest summit finish at over 2300m above sea level on top of the Col de la Loze on Stage 18.
He attacked his rivals with 16km to go and held off superstars Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard to record a memorable victory, on his way to finishing the Tour 11th overall on general classification after overcoming a nasty crash on the opening day.
Now entering his second season with Team Jayco AlUla, O’Connor is coming back to where it all began in Adelaide after he launched his professional cycling career at the TDU in 2017.
He last rode the Santos Tour Down Under in 2023 when he finished sixth overall after a third placing in the final stage to Mount Lofty, and in 2024 finished second overall at both the Vuelta a Espana and road race at the UCI World Championships.
Quotes attributable to Team Jayco AlUla rider Ben O’Connor:
“It’s one of the best races of the year, a lot of people can back that up being centralised in the middle of the city with this big festival atmosphere as well so I love it.
“And riding with Team Jayco AlUla there is a responsibility to perform there, so I want to be ready and switched on.
“The last time I was here I was sixth and had bit of a bungle at the bottom of a climb and I never made the group that ended up winning that stage, so I’d love to be on the podium in Adelaide one year.
“I think the main stage will be the Uraidla day when you go up the Corkscrew and turn left, it makes the climb 2km longer and it’s quite different going from a 5-8 to a 10-13 minute effort, so it does suit me a bit better.
“And that final day in Stirling is pretty relentless, nothing is too steep but I’m thinking things can get pretty out of hand later in the laps, because there will be some fatigue and it’s a pretty unforgiving circuit.
“So it definitely opens the race up to be more aggressive, especially on that last stage because you can just lay it all out there.
“Even with the prologue you can’t play it safe any day at the TDU if you’re trying to win it or finish top three, because the difference between third and sixth can be five seconds, so every single thing often counts Down Under and you have to be super switched on.”
Quotes attributable to TDU Race Director Stuart O’Grady:
“We are very excited to have Ben back at the Santos Tour Down Under in January and I'm sure the same goes for thousands of cycling fans who watched him win that amazing stage at this year’s Tour de France.
“Ben launched his professional career here eight years ago and now he returns to Adelaide as a multiple Grand Tour stage winner and one of the top general classification riders in the world.
“The challenging course for next year's TDU will suit his climbing abilities and we expect he will be joined by a really strong Jayco AlUla team with him to target the Santos Ochre Leaders Jersey.”
The 2026 Santos Tour Down Under route is shaping up at the most exciting in history with the return of an inner-city prologue, two climbs up the Corkscrew, three times up Old Willunga Hill and a thrilling final stage showdown in Stirling to decide the Santos Ochre Leader’s Jersey.
The women’s race will be the longest in its history at 395km, showcasing new stage starts in Willunga, Norwood and Magill, and also feature two ascensions of the Corkscrew as well as a new one-day race in the Barossa. It will also be the first time in TDU history that all 15 women’s WorldTeams will be on the start line alongside all 18 top-tier men’s teams.
