After four seasons with Orica-GreenEDGE Cycling team, Simon Clarke will join Cannondale-Garmin for next season. In an interview with Cyclingnews, the Australian rider claims to be excited for his new role with the US team. 

"I got a call from Jonathan Vaughters and he pitched an idea for me to come to the team and one, help the Ardennes group and be a part of that, and two, to act in a mentoring role with Cannondale having the youngest average age of the pro peloton," Clarke explained. "He felt like the needed someone new to help guide the young guys and also kind of help as a road captain as well. That really interests me to be able to have potentially some freedom in the Ardennes and one-day races, then on the stage stages be a bit more of a road captain and help the young guys develop as much as possible. There's some great talent in Cannondale and I believe with some good development they can become great bike riders."

During the Giro d'Italia, he won  the TTT and wore the pink jersey some a day. "It was amazing, it's every kids dream to be the centre of attention for a whole day of the race and it's only something that one leader experiences per day. It was definitely a moment I won't forget," he said of wearing the maglia rosa. "It was my first Giro so it was pretty special and to be able to wear the leader's jersey on first attempt, win a team time trial and come second on a stage was I suppose was a dream first Giro. Looking back at the team effort, all the other teams in the race during that week were looking at us and thinking 'how can we beat these guys, they seem to be in the jersey everyday and whilst in the jersey they're either winning stages or running places everyday.'"

In 2016, the Italian three-week race will be again his main goal. "Briefly, it's going to look very similar to what I did this year. I'll be building up for the Ardennes and the Giro and obviously kicking off here with the Tour Down Under in Oz, then getting over the Europe and doing the Italian races. After that we'll reassess for the second half of the year."