After a dream debut at the Tour de France in July, Ben O'Connor will make the Tour de France the centerpiece of his season in 2022.

In his first year with AG2R Citroën, the Australian won stage 9 in the Alps at this year's Tour, arriving in Paris in fourth place overall.

After abandoning the Giro in late 2018, O'Connor's return to the Corsa Rosa will likely have to wait, despite his previous claims of "unfinished business" and the lure of the time trial-light 2022 route.

He is currently in the French Alps for a first-team preseason gathering, and while the race program has yet to be formalized, it is clear that his heart is in July.

"I'm certainly always tempted by the Giro. I would love to go back to the Giro again someday, but looking at the results of this year's Tour, it would be pretty cool to go back," O'Connor told Cyclingnews. If I still have a chance to compete in the Tour when I'm young and ready to fight, that's good. I think the older I get, the more tired I'm going to be at the Tour."

O'Connor said that he "is still very much looking forward to the Tour.

Indeed, the Giro has not gone unnoticed. O'Connor not only relaunched his own career in 2021, but he also had a successful year in AG2R. With Romain Bardet and Pierre Latour moving on, the stage race division seemed to have taken a backseat, but O'Connor put them in the spotlight in the most important event for the French team.

Thus, despite the fact that no formal discussions have taken place, there is a clear understanding of next year's structure, and both sides have clearly changed their approach compared to this time last year.

"We will probably be in the Tour again next year," said O'Connor. I'll probably be at the Tour again next year," O'Connor said.

"It's not that I'm aiming for it or that I have to fight for a spot. But this year is different. This year I feel like it's bigger than just being in the Tour."

As for the courses O'Connor will encounter next July, the 13km first day in Copenhagen and the 44km final day in southern France may be more time trial oriented than the Giro, but many long climbs, as he describes the "diesel" engine in the mountain stages awaits.

To reach this stage, he will have to deal with two tricky road stages on Danish soil, which are exposed to the wind and will no doubt create the kind of tension that caused him to crash and lose time on the opening day this year. The cobblestones of northern France in stage 5 will be similar.

"The first week is going to be super tricky. Denmark could be pretty cool, and I'm confident that the second day will be windy," O'Connor said. [I have my teammates Ollie [Naessen], Greg [Van Avermaat], and Mickey [Scherr]. I can trust them and they've been there before. I just have to trust them and follow them."

"After that, it's a pretty long climb. The Alps stage is my favorite type of climb. Col de Porte, that huge, huge climb, was one of my favorite stags this year, so I think I like the route."