Simon Clarke has ridden both the Vuelta a Espana and the Tour de France, where he has achieved success in both, taking a stage and the Mountains Jersey at the 2012 Vuelta and being part of a Greendedge team time trial win in the 2013 Tour de France. This time at the Tour, he won his second most combative rider award on the day he turned 28. Now, he will complete the set in 2015, when he rides his first ever Giro d’Italia.

"I asked the team if I could do the Giro and they were keen to support me in that request. It's great, I am really happy that they are willing to back me and [next year] we have similar aspirations to this year at the Giro," Clarke told Cyclingnews at Mitchelton Winery during the team's River & Ranges Winery Ride. "If we can go back there and repeat what we did this year, it would be more than satisfying, not only for the riders there, but also for the team.”

The team held the Pink Jersey for eight days and won the team time trial plus two individual stages from Michael Matthews and Pieter Weening. However, only two men finished the race.

Orica Greenedge DS Matt White thinks that while the start of the 2014 and 2015 Giros are different, there is no reason why the team cant chase success.

"Very similar to this year, win the team time trial and hold that jersey for as long as possible on someone's back," White told Cyclingnews. "It's quite a different first week of the Giro to this year. Those stages in Liguria are pretty solid, they are certainly not normal sprint stages which suits us.”

Clarke isn’t yet fully aware of his schedule, but he doesn’t think he will ride the Tour this year, but he will return to the Vuelta. He will ride the Ardennes Classics, supporting Simon Gerrans in Amstel and his title defence in Liege, but in between those two, Clarke hopes to get a chance to race for himself at La Fleche Wallonne.

"Flèche is always an opportunity but we'll see what happens," said Clarke who finished 16th this year. “I think I still have a little bit of development in those six-and-a-half to seven hour races before I can really be at the front. While I am developing and learning the ropes, I am more than happy to be at Gerro's side for as long as he needs it.

"Flèche is a good race for me at the moment because it's that little bit shorter and I still have a few bickies (biscuits) left at the end to have a crack. If Gerro doesn't do it again, like he has in the last three years, then I'll see what happens and have a bit of a dig there."

In 2014, Clarke says he tiked a big goal off his list when he won the Jayco Herald Sun Tour in late January and he hopes to be there again in 2015 to personally defend his title.

"It was one, obviously being from Melbourne, that I really wanted to tick off," he said. "Obviously racing with Gerro, who I aspire a lot to his achievements and try to follow a path similar to his. With him having success early on at the Sun Tour, I figured it was also a good place where I should try to tick the box on my palmarès. I am really happy to tick that box and for [team owner] Gerry Ryan, words don't describe the support that he puts in for us, and to win at home in front of Gerry was special and a bit of a thank you I suppose."

"I think after my performance this year, I'll be pretty marked out, but that will give the other guys some opportunity and well see what happens," he said of his title defence. "The plan is to defend it as a team, whether that’s me or someone else we have to work out but I’ll be going here to personally defend it."

Clarke has also had to deal with becoming a senior figure in a young team, but he isn’t stressed with the younger guys looking up to him, he just enjoys helping them.

"I am just taking it day-by-day as they say and if there's races they want me to take responsibility in and call some shots on the road, that's good and for the other ones I'll just keep doing what I am doing.”

"I am not too stressed about that, I am happy to look after the younger guys on the team and mentor them a bit but I am pretty focused on my performance and I want to step that up in the next few years."

Clarke may be a challenger at the Worlds Road Race in Richmond, as the course is rumoured to be tough, and Clarke was sixth in Florence two years ago, on another hard circuit. But Clarke isn’t focused on anything past the Giro and wouldn’t comment if he thinks the race could suit him.

"We'll see, it sounds more like a Flanders style of race more than anything but the distance is more what gets to everyone," he said of the parcours. "Even if you only put one hill in a lap, if you do it 14 times, the altitude adds up pretty quickly.

"I've had a pretty good run in the Worlds in recent years and obviously if I do the Vuelta I'll be setting myself up for it, so we'll see how it goes."