Team Jayco AlUla will be led at the Tour de France 2025 by two former stage winners in Ben O’Connor and Dylan Groenewegen, targeting the overall classification and stage victories respectively.
Joining them on the well-rounded roster will be Luke Plapp, who is making his ‘Grand Boucle’ debut following a standout Giro d’Italia performance in the spring that saw him solo to his first Grand Tour stage win.
An Australian GC leader
With O’Connor at the helm, it will be the first time that Team Jayco AlUla has had an Australian leading its general classification charge since its inception in 2012.
The 29-year-old, who will be riding his fourth Tour de France this summer, has a rich Grand Tour pedigree. He’s finished in the top five overall in each of 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.
Backing O’Connor in the mountains will be compatriot Plapp and another Tour de France debutant, Eddie Dunbar. 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.
Ben O’Connor
“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.”
Sprint goals
The in-form Groenewegen will be looking to add some stage wins to his palmarès 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.
Supporting Dutch champion Groenewegen will be two very experienced lead-out men, Luka Mezgec and Elmar Reinders. The duo helped to lead Groenewegen to his win last year and are making their sixth and third appearances respectively.
Brent Copeland – General Manager
“It’s time for one of the biggest and most prestigious events of the season, and we have been preparing for this year’s Tour de France for a very long time. Thanks to the hard work of our performance group, we believe we have put together our strongest line-up, well suited to this year’s edition. It is never an easy task to put together a team line-up with dual ambitions, however, we are confident we have a great balance of riders.
As always, it will be an honour to see the team on the start line, this year in Lille on July 5th, and of course, we look to build on our achievements from the previous editions. For 2025, we also have the pleasure of supporting GreenEDGE Cycling’s first ever Australian general classification contender in Ben O’Connor.
The whole world will be watching. The Tour de France means so much to our riders, staff, and of course, we would not be here without the ongoing support of our trusted and loyal partners. We can line up confidently knowing that no stone has been left unturned in our preparation and that we have the highest level of equipment and resources available thanks to the dedication of our partners.”
Packed with power
Rounding out the team will be a mixture of experience and youth with Luke Durbridge set to line up for his 11th lap of France while Mauro Schmid is set to make his debut.
Australian road race champion Durbridge is an important linchpin for the squad, providing support for both its GC and stage ambitions as well as a wealth of knowledge. Meanwhile, recently crowned Swiss time trial and road race champion, Schmid provides the team with opportunities for success on the medium mountain days that lend themselves to breakaways.
Mathew Hayman – Sport Director
“We’re really looking forward to getting on the road at the Tour de France with Dylan Groenewegen for the sprints and we’ve got Ben O’Connor for GC. We’ll have the national time trial champion and road race champion, Luke Plapp and Luke Durbridge, as Australians in the team, along with Ben, who is the first Australian GC leader for the team.
The opening stage is a sprint stage and for a sprinter to be able to take the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, I’m sure that excites Dylan, and it would be a pretty crowning moment to take a win and the yellow jersey. Then, it’s a really challenging first 10 days. There’s quite a lot of punchy, classics-style stages and we’ve got a time trial in there before we move into the mountains. Overall, we’ve identified probably five or six stages that are too hard for the sprinters that could be potential breakaway or punchy days, then a couple of time trials, a flat one first and then a mountain time trial, and then some big mountain stages.
It’ll be a stressful first 10 days for the riders and myself, particularly around the GC. We’ve seen in the past that the Tour de France is always stressful, it’s the biggest race and the riders become nervous. There’s always the potential for time gaps for the GC guys. You never know what’s going to happen in the Tour de France from day to day. I expect it to be superfast, I expect there to be a lot of eyes on that battle and hopefully because of that we can find some opportunities with our guys.”
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
