Nicola Rutzou
For the first time, the Australian team Jayco-AlUla goes to the Tour de France with an Australian leading its general classification hopes, with recent recruit Ben O’Connor, who joined the team this year.
The 29-year-old, who will be riding his fourth Tour de France, has an impressive Grand Tour pedigree. He’s finished in the top five overall in the three-week races, including a second place at last season’s Vuelta a España. He has also won stages in all the grand tours, adding the Vuelta to his palmarès in 2024.
Supporting O’Connor will be Aussie Luke Plapp, who is making his ‘Grand Boucle’ debut following a standout Giro d’Italia performance in May that saw him solo to his first Grand Tour stage win. Irishman Eddie Dunbar will also back O’Connor in the mountains. While Dunbar hasn’t ridden the French Grand Tour previously, he’s got a good history at three-week races with seventh overall at the 2023 Giro d’Italia and two stage wins at last year’s Vuelta.
Dutch rider sprinter Dylan Groenewegen is also part of the team and will target stage victories with at least seven sprint opportunities this July. The Dutchman notched up his sixth Tour de France stage victory in last season’s race and has been on flying form lately with a double win at the Tour of Slovenia.
Two very experienced lead-out men, Slovenian Luka Mezgec and Dutchman Elmar Reinders, will support Dutch champion Groenewegen. The duo helped Groenewegen to his win last year and are making their sixth and third appearances, respectively.
The third Aussie in the team is Luke Durbridge, who is riding the Tour de France for the 11th time.
Ben O’Connor said in the team’s statement, “We have a really versatile team and I’ve performed well in Grand Tours in the past so I’ll do everything I can to get back to the top five, which I’ve been able to finish in at the Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a España, and Tour de France. We also have Dylan to go for the sprint stages, we pretty much have all kinds of stages covered. It’s always an exciting time, it’s the biggest race, and biggest stress, but it’s also the biggest reward.
“The route is a race of two halves. You have northern France with some extremely punchy stages and then pretty much, from stage 10 onwards, all of climbs are 30 minutes to one hour long. There are some really big cols and passes, so I think that’s where I will be enjoying the race a lot more. They’re the kind of mountain stages I really prefer. For me, it’ll be about getting through the first half and then executing in the second half.”
Team Jayco AlUla line-up at the 2025 Tour de France
Eddie Dunbar (IRL) 1st appearance
Luke Durbridge (AUS) 11th appearance
Dylan Groenewegen (NED) 7th appearance
Luka Mezgec (SLO) 6th appearance
Ben O’Connor (AUS) 4th appearance
Luke Plapp (AUS) 1st appearance
Elmar Reinders (NED) 3rd appearance
Mauro Schmid (SUI) 1st appearance
