"I think it's possible to hold good for all year and then hope it peaks during a Grand Tour" - Ben O'Connor doesn't fancy the so-called 'slow build' for Giro d'Italia

Ben O'Connor was hoping to finish on the final Tirreno-Adriatico podium besides Jonas Vingegaard. But it wasn't to be for the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider as not only Vingegaard, but also Juan Ayuso, Jai Hindley and even the young Isaac Del Toro were outside O'Connor's reach this week. The Australian is not really bothered by the 5th place here tho, as his main goal remains the Giro d'Italia.

"It was incredible what Jonas did yesterday. I did the best I could, I tried to follow for a while but it was a useless attempt," O'Connor told Cyclingnews. "Today I rode thinking about the podium but it didn't work out."

"If you target the Giro, you have to be good from the start of the season. I think the only person who can do a slow build is Geraint Thomas, everyone else tries to be good from the word go," the Australian explained. "I'm not doing a lot of races but I want to do well in every race I do. It's important to perform and to be at my level."

"If I'm healthy I think I can win races and consistently be in that top five in races like Tirreno-Adriatico. If I only peak for the Giro, I'm going to miss out on opportunities and there's also a lot of risk to a slow build. If I crash out of the Giro on stage 2, my race can be over and I'd have wasted half a season. I think it's possible to hold good for all year and then hope it peaks during a Grand Tour. That's my plan."