Ben O'Connor's performance in stage 4 of Paris-Nice took a hit as he finished 27th, dropping him to 20th overall. Despite initially feeling optimistic after a strong team time trial, poor weather conditions, including ice and hail, stalled the race and affected his performance. Sport director Matthew Hayman acknowledged the unfortunate circumstances but remained hopeful about the team's overall chances in the race. O'Connor expressed confidence prior to the stage but faced significant difficulties due to the abrupt weather changes during the race.
"Yesterday was a great day for us, today not so good," said sport director Matthew Hayman on a Jayco-AlUla social media post. "But there is still a lot of racing here and the guys are going well."
"We were struck with a pretty heavy hail and ice shower there in the middle of the stage," said Hayman. "It came out of nowhere. Really not knowing what was going to happen, the bunch was stuck on the side of the mountain ... got pretty cold during that period."
"If I can just go off that then today [I'm] thinking I can do a good ride," O'Connor had said before the start in an interview put out by Jayco-AlUla.
O'Connor crossed the finish line at the top of La Loge des Gardes in 27th spot, 2:10 down on stage 4 winner João Almeida, sending him down 16 places in GC.
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