Another crash during Stage 8 of the Tour de France has put Ben O'Connor's continued participation at this year's Tour de France at risk, with the SBS commentary team discussing whether it would be better for O'Connor to stay in the race, or take some time to recover and focus on future races like the Vuelta a Espana.
While he rejoined the bunch after the crash, O'Connor was then dropped on the finishing ascent to Lausanne with 7 kilometres to go.
"It does really depend on the extent of his injuries," Simon Gerrans said of O'Connor during stage 8.
"And he's racing for a French team. This is the big one, so important for AG2R Citroen and he's the leader of that team, they've built the team around him.
"If his injuries aren't so bad and he can get to the rest day, then he can refocus and try to win a stage in the Pyrenees. It all comes down to how badly he's hurt."
David McKenzie echoed Gerrans' comments, referencing O'Connor's own assertion that his general classification challenge is over despite his team still wanting him to attempt to claw back time.
"When he was asked yesterday about GC, he basically said he doesn't want to. He's resigned to the fact that GC is done," McKenzie said.
"The next two days are pretty crucial for him."
After finishing 4th overall in last year's Tour de France, O'Connor began on the back foot this edition as he finished the Stage 1 time trial a minute back from leader Yves Lampaert (QuickStep Alpha Vinyl) before being caught up in a crash 2 kilometres from the finish on stage 2.
He lost no time on the second stage due to the crash being inside the last 3 kilometres, and looked to have shaken off any lingering injuries as he finished safely with the bunch on stages 3 and 4.
But Stage 5 and the cobbles of Roubaix saw cracks start to show in O'Connor's GC bid, as a puncture on the second pavé sector meant he had to chase the favourites group and couldn't rejoin due to the abundance of traffic from team and media vehicles - finishing that day a further three minutes down in the general classification.
Putting that performance down to plain bad luck, O'Connor's overall hopes then took another huge hit on Stage 6 as he was dropped on the run in to the finish in Longwy and lost another two and a half minutes, causing him to reveal injuries from his earlier crash were still affecting him.
"I'm really disappointed today," O'Connor told SBS following Stage 6.
"I'm still suffering from this crash, it's not like anything's changed out there."
With not much changing in O'Connors form on yesterday's Stage 7, the question remains open whether the best course of action for the West Australian is to withdraw from the race and focus on recovering now his overall hopes are long gone.
