At the halfway point of the Vuelta a España, Ben O'Connor is proving to be a solid leader. The Ag2R Decathlon Australian is no stranger to high finishes, having finished fourth in both the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia. That made the favourites - Primoz Roglic (Bora), Enric Mas (Movistar) and Richard Carapaz (EF) - regret the leniency they showed him on the sixth stage from Jerez to Yunquera. He was allowed to join a breakaway that crossed the line 4'51" ahead of a peloton that accelerated in the final stretch, but it was too late to close the gap.

While O'Connor continues to impress, Wout Van Aert (Visma) has also been outstanding. He has taken three stage wins and proved that he is one of the top riders in the Vuelta a España. Van Aert has won solo, sprint and mountain stages.

O'Connor is maintaining his lead despite losing a few seconds to attacks. It remains to be seen if they will be enough to take the red leader's jersey away from him before the 8th of September in Madrid. On that day, on the way to Yunquera, O'Connor put in a performance that put the top contenders on alert. They now see their chances of a podium finish in Madrid in jeopardy.

Since then, O'Connor has continued to lead through the rugged Cazorla finish and the steep slopes of Hazallanas heading into Granada. The only time he has struggled significantly was at the Padrón finish on Wednesday, when the Vuelta moved from Andalusia to Galicia. It was there that an unexpected winner, Edward Dunbar (Jayco AlUla), took advantage of the element of surprise. 

He won the 166.5 kilometre stage 11 of the Vuelta a España. Ben O'Connor lost a handful of seconds to his GC rivals, including Primoz Roglic and Enric Mas, who were the most aggressive and attacked on the final climb. They took 37 seconds off O'Connor's lead and closed the gap slightly.

Dunbar, who was part of a large breakaway that finished ahead of the peloton, used the markings of other riders who were considered more likely to win. He attacked at the right moment to take his first win in three weeks.

The day's winner, who finished seventh in last year's Giro d'Italia, admitted, "I knew I had to do a long sprint and at 600 metres I thought, 'It's a bit far, but this is the moment."

Slovenian Roglic and Spaniards Enric Mas and Mikel Landa showed their strength on the climbs in this 11th stage. They took 37 seconds off O'Connor's lead. In this group, Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz lost 14 seconds to Roglic and Mas, who moved up to third in the general classification.

The final climb of the day, Puerto Cruxeiras, with an average gradient of almost 9%, shook up the peloton with 70 kilometres to go. It formed the breakaway from which the stage winner would emerge.

It was at the foot of the third category Cruxeiras climb that the Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe team accelerated. They launched their leader Roglic, followed by the Spaniard Mas. O'Connor struggled without any teammates to help him.

Nevertheless, he remains in the lead of the Vuelta a España. However, with the Ancares stage on Friday and the Alto del Cuitu Negru on Sunday, he faces a tough weekend. There's also the iconic Lagos de Covadonga on Tuesday, and a challenging stage in Burgos that finishes at Picón Blanco, with over 5,000 metres of climbing, just before the final 24.6km time trial in Madrid on 8 September. O'Connor now has a lead of 3:16 over Roglic and 3:58 over Mas.

General Classification:

Ben O'Connor 43 h. 54. 54

Primoz Roglic at 3:16

Enric Mas at 3:58