Ben O'Connor coughed continuously at the end of Stage 20 at Bassano del Grappa, but the pain was relieved when he learned that he had finished 4th overall in the Giro d'Italia after battling illness in the final week.

His decathlon AG2R Ramon Diar team also won the team classification ahead of Ineos Grenadier and UAE team Emirates, enjoying a 2-stage victory against Valentin Palais Paintre and Andrea Vandrame.

"To win the team classification takes the overall fourth in the GC and a two-step win means we can be satisfied with the result," O'Connor said after the stage after recovering from a huge final effort in the mountains.

On Sunday's final stage, he will be able to ride in Rome and share a special moment with his teammates on the final podium.

O'Connor finished 2021 Tour de France in 4th place and won the stage. As the 28-year-old ponders his future, perhaps given his contract away from the decathlon AG2R Ramon Diar is up at the end of the year, he has returned to his best and confirmed that he can become a grand tour rider.  

"I would be happy with [the fourth], but I would prefer the third." Or second," O'Connor said before Stage 20.

"To be honest, I feel like I'm sitting where I deserve to be. The fourth is fair, because Dani [Martinez] is better and Geraint [Thomas] is more consistent.

O'Connor delved deeper because of his breathing problems, but knew that the Montegrappa stage was his last big effort. With the help of his teammate Valentin Palais Paintre, he was able to finish on stage at the same time as Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain victory) and dodge the rider's challenge in 5th place overall.

"We started in a storm, with some terrible rain and then almost had two one-hour time trials until Montegrappa," he said, summing up his days of pain. "The second time was really hard for me and Valentin really, really helped me a lot.

"We finally managed to come back to the top five guys at GC. I did a little attack too and he made a good sprint too and got second on stage as well. It is a great way to wrap the Giro and now we can celebrate in Rome.”