His comments came after a day of fast and furious racing during the fifth and final stage of the tour -- a 122km route that took riders through rolling countryside north east of Masterton.
The final stage was eventually won by State of Matter/MAAP's Mike Cuming from Australia, who came off the front of a breakaway group with 10km to go. Cuming managed to hold onto his lead and crossed the finish line in 2hrs 51mins 04secs, ahead of New Zealander and current road champion Jason Christie, racing for Kenyan Riders Downunder Australia, and team-mate Jesse Kerrison. They were followed by a group of 17 riders 5sces behind which included O'Connor and O'Brien; ONE Pro Cycling's James Oram, Dion Smith and Hayden McCormick and New Zealand National team member Michael Vink.
With valuable general classification points on the line O'Connor said he knew it would be a tough day.
"The other teams threw everything at us -- it was unbelievably tough," he said. "There was a little bit of cross wind today and short punchy climbs out there and it left us isolated. The first half, the boys rode brilliantly and then we went to get some bottles and there were some cheeky moves made, which left the boys out, and left me and Mark to try and nurse her home.
"You're kind of hoping for an easy [final] day where it's all nice and controlled and have a team bunch sprint but that didn't happen at all today. That's bike racing, that's what makes it such a great sport."
Cuming said he knew he had the stage win in the bag with 1km to go.
"I looked around over my shoulder and knew there was a bit of distance there, so I just went for it," he said.
Also finishing the tour on a high was State of Matter who won the overall team classification finishing 16secs ahead of runner-up ONE Pro Cycling and third placed Data #3 Cisco.
Kiwi Ryan Christensen, racing for Oliver's Real Food, won the Mitre 10 Mega King of the Mountain Jersey 2pts ahead of Avanti's Sam Crome; Australian Dylan Newberry, racing for Data #3, won the Fagan Motors Sprint Ace jersey two points clear of Cuming; and O'Connor also won the Ricoh U23 jersey 34 seconds ahead of JLT's Stephen Williams.
At the presentation ceremony race director Jorge Sandoval thanked the New Zealand Police who helped make the event safe for riders and the public and also UCI representative Peter Tomlinson, Destination Wairarapa, the regional tourism organisation, Trust House, NZ Community Trust, sponsors and all volunteers who'd helped out during the week. Sandoval also said he looked forward to staging the event again in 2017.
Meanwhile, Huri Huri: Wairarapa's Bike Festival being held in conjunction with the New Zealand Cycle Classic continued over the weekend. On Saturday four of the NZCC riders who were unable to continue the tour after being timed out took part in the Pedal for Parkinsons Cycle Race.
Carl Wells and Chris Sanson from Bikebarn, Charles Salmon from MCS Cycling and Alex West from Team Seasucker were happy to ride with "weekend warriors" who completed the road race around Gladstone and that finished atop of Admiral Hill. The quartet said it was great to support a good cause and be given the opportunity to keep the legs turning over.
Catherine Rossiter-Stead, from the Huri Huri Festival, said she was pleased to see pro riders out mixing with the community.
