Peter Maniaty
It seems increasingly likely Ben O’Connor is currently riding in his final Tour de France for Jayco AlUla with reports the 30-year-old is poised to depart the Australian WorldTour team at the end of 2026.
According to French news agency L’Equipe the GC veteran from Perth will be returning to his former team, Decathlon CMA CGM, to partner teenage French phenom Paul Sexias in 2027.
O’Connor joined Jayco-AlUla at the start of 2025 after four years with the Savoie-based French team when it was then known as Decathlon AG2R.
L’Equipe is reporting that O’Connor will return to his former employers to replace Austrian climber Felix Gall who looks set to link with Lidl–Trek next season.
While there have been flashes of brilliance in his time in purple, O’Connor hasn’t quite lived up to the high expectations since joining the Australian team.
His best result to date this season has been a fifth on Stage 7 at the Giro d’Italia where he finished 16th overall, while he currently sits 50th on GC at the Tour de France, already more than an hour behind Tadej Pogacar.
O’Connor’s only win in Jayco AlUla colours was a good one, mind you. It came on Stage 18 of last year’s Tour de France to Courcheval where he emerged from the fog on the Col de la Loze as the lone survivor from the day’s breakaway still ahead of a rampaging Pogacar.
Speaking with Bicycling Australia last year, O’Connor explained Decathlon CMA CGM is more like a company than a sporting team.
“It’s very different in the big French teams. Many of the staff have worked there for a very long time, 20 or 30 years, and they have a huge personal attachment… I’m not saying people within Jayco AlUla or other international teams don’t love it. But they really couldn’t see anything else but cycling; they’ll work within that sphere for life. It’s everything for them.”
After a two-year break, it seems O’Connor is ready to once again put everything into that sphere as well.
Decathlon and Jayco AlUla have so far declined to comment on the news – normal practice with team transfers only able to be announced after 1 August each year.
Peter Maniaty
Peter Maniaty - Peter is Bicycling Australia’s senior journalist, and highly respected in the world of cycling. From bike reviews, to destination features and nitty gritty opinion pieces, he’s a gun writer.
