Vincenzo Nibali said a late change in mentality was the key to his imminent overall victory at the Giro d'Italia.
The 31-year-old Italian was the pre-race favourite but performed poorly in the opening 18 stages and appeared to be out of contention when he reached the final three days 4min 43sec adrift of the lead.
However, he has since opened up a 52-second gap at the top of the general classification by winning stage 19 and then dropping all of his rivals once again on stage 20.
He now only needs to avoid crashing on Sunday's flat and largely processional final stage into Turin to seal the second Giro victory of his career.
Nibali said: "Yesterday I saw I was much better. These last few days were very important. It was a draining Giro. I started with the pressure of being favourite, but once I said to myself, 'Whatever happens, happens', I felt more free.
"That's what made me go well in this Giro. In my head, I set out with the desire to do too much and I was expecting something straight away.
"I was too focused and I wasn't riding well. But then we realigned ourselves and we rode well this last week."
Nibali went into Saturday's 20th stage 44 seconds adrift of overnight leader Esteban Chaves but dropped the Colombian with an attack on the third of the day's four climbs.
Having crossed the line in Sant'Anna di Vinadio alone, Nibali admitted it was an anxious wait for Chaves to finish.
"I was there, listening to the speaker counting down the seconds," he added. "It was only when I understood I had pulled it off that I could start to celebrate."
Stages 19 and 20 both crested climbs more than 2,700m high and Nibali revealed the altitude worked to his advantage.
He said: "Yesterday I realised that I was going very well at altitude and I was confident for today. On the Colle della Lombarda, we kicked off our forcing. The entire team was magnificent.
"I didn't even believe it myself that we would manage it, but thanks to some great teamwork, we defied a lot of predictions."