Ben O'Connor said before the Criterium du Dauphiné that it was time to get on the podium in a WorldTour stage race. Mission accomplished.

The Australian, who finished fourth overall in last year's Tour de France, spent race week in the colors of the AG2R Citroen, further increasing his motivation for this year's Tour.

As on Saturday, O'Connor was unable to compete with the Jumbo-Visma duo of Primoš Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard on Sunday's final stage, the final climb to the Plateau de Solaison. But as on Saturday, he dominated the rest.

When he stood on the podium, he had a smile on his face.

"I'm super proud," he said. Jonas was second in last year's Tour, Primoz won the Vuelta three times, and he's won most of the other stage races. So I'm really proud of him today."

O'Connor was the last man standing when Jumbo Visma tore through the GC field on the final 11.3km, 9% climb. Steven Kruisweig ran a monster race, and O'Connor was suddenly the only one not wearing yellow and black at the front of the race.

Shortly thereafter, Vingegaard made a stinging acceleration and O'Connor was forced to fall back. But he did not retreat; the two Jumbo riders broke away together, but O'Connor kept them in sight on the climb with 5km to go, finishing just 15 seconds ahead.

"I wanted to go with Jonas and Primosch, but it was too explosive for me," O'Connor explained.

"I tried to see if I could go back, but it stayed the same distance. I still had the legs and I didn't explode. I just couldn't keep up with the initial acceleration."

O'Connor said.

Nevertheless, the Dauphiné kept O'Connor on the upswing, perhaps finally finding consistency in his career. He had shown signs of a breakthrough at the 2018 Giro d'Italia, but has had a rocky period since then, joining AG2R just last season when contract offers were in short supply.

After a dream fourth place in the Tour, this season has seen the following results: seventh in the Rita del Sol, sixth in the Volta a Catalunya, fifth in the Tour de Romandie, and third in the Dauphiné.

O'Connor said.

"What we have done as a team has paid off. It won't be long before we can compete with the best in the world.

"Now we just have to go into the Tour not being too tired beforehand and not causing too many problems in the Tour."