He has started 11 one day races
Top 5 in 9.
Worst results were 7th in San Remo and 20th Amstel.
He is going to bag a tour stage this year.

Stage average speed was 46.8 kph. I suspect there was a tailwind, but still shows how fast people are riding.

It was basically all downhill:
https://www.procyclingstats.com/...tage-4/info/profiles

That is 1,000 m over 140 km, so 0.7% average downhill, significant for sure but not the Albula Pass descent. It definitely contributed to the record breaking average speed, but when we see all the EF girls on TT helmets and time trial skin suits, and wider tires, I think other factors are also contributing.

For sure - wind, net downhill, equipment and tactics all played a role here. Once that split happened and there was the chance to put some GC contenders to the sword, it was going to be full gas all the way to the finish. I did notice that EF were all in the aero helmets today vs when Jackson took her win I think she was the only one on the team with that lid.

Helluva move from Faulkner. She brought both the sound and the fury.

Well played.

Yeah, that was Ted Lasso quality (if I hadn't been an English Major once, I would've missed it, I'm sure)

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

And it’s Giro team presentation night on tape delay for me. It’s definitely got an Eurovision wannabe kind of vibe. Not even five minutes in, and the pop songs and break dancers are on stage in full force.

Ohh time to set stuff on fire now!

Haha extra cheesy.

It was a tough day for Realini, but Vollering was looking great and has opened up her account.

And that was before the Ukrainian dance group with light up crotches.

I’m serious.

It’s a vibe.

In the not shocking news department, Realini is a DNS today because of concussion. She could be seen stumbling and bracing herself against the wall when she first got up and seemed to stumble more while trying to get the bike. She was off camera for a good deal of the chase. I wonder if the medic ever checked on her.

Yeah, she was definitely wobbly and it seemed like she might have blacked out for a few seconds given how long it took her to get back up.

Yeah, I was yelling at my screen for the team to take 2 minutes to check her out. She was never going to catch anyway.

This isn't like the flat segment today where van Alphen got on the bike a bit before deciding to abandon - low risk. Realini was going to continue a technical descent.

https://www.rouleur.cc/blogs/the-rouleur-journal/in-my-words-ben-oconnor-why-i-know-i-can-podium-at-the-giro-ditalia


I like Ben's confidence and if you couple that with the Van Rysel magic, he is a legit threat.