Ben O'Connor will return to his Grand Tour roots by competing in the 2024 Giro d'Italia, the team announced Thursday. [Already on the roster are stage race stars like Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) and Romain Bardet (dsm-Filmenig Post NL), as well as all-rounders like Wout Van Aert (Visma-Ries A Bikes).

For O'Connor, the Giro d'Italia is where the 28-year-old West Australian began his three-week racing career and where he won his first Grand Tour stage in Madonna di Campiglio in 2020.

He has not raced the Giro again since that year, but said in an interview with Cycling News last December that he may return in 2024.

After this breakthrough victory, O'Connor signed with his current French team, then AG2R Citroën, for 2021. In that year's Tour de France, he took a memorable solo stage win in Tignes and a career-best fourth place overall in Paris.

On Thursday, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale also announced the first three races of 2024, with O'Connor's new Irish teammate, sprinter Sam Bennett, making his debut at the Tour de la Provence (February 8-11), followed by the UAE Tour and Paris ～to Nice.

It is not yet clear whether O'Connor will return to the Tour de France after the Giro d'Italia, but he told Cycling News in December that competing in two grand tours is his goal for 2024.

In a December interview, O'Connor said he hopes to return to the Giro d'Italia after two difficult Julys; in the 2022 Tour, he abandoned midway through the race after injuries from a crash in the second stage took a heavy toll on him. Meanwhile, in 2023, he had a tough start due to illness, but was part of two breakaway groups and helped teammate Felix Gall to victory in the ultra-difficult Col de la Rose stage.

"I want to do a change. I'd love to be in the Giro, but I'm on a French team and the Tour is super important to me. I'm definitely going to do two Grand Tours next year, but I don't know which one." But the Tour is the Tour, so ......."

. So far, the team has only announced details of the opening race on his calendar, as well as revealing his participation in the Giro d'Italia.

O'Connor will start 2024 at the Vuelta Ciclista in Murcia (February 10), followed by the Clasica Jaen (with multiple sectors of off-road) on February 12, before heading to the UAE Tour with Bennett.

No Australian has ever participated in the first three races of 2024, but Bennett has three stage wins in the UAE Tour, one in 2019 and two in 2021. He has also finished in the top three twice in the same race in 2022 and 2023.

Bennett has an even more impressive track record in Paris-Nice, with five stage wins to date, the last in 2021; in 2024 he will be joined by Arnaud Demaret (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Michael Matthews (Jayco-AIUIa), Arnaud De Lier (Lotto-Dstny), Olaf Couey (Visma-Lease A Bike), and other typically strong, fast finishers.