Like many other professional road cyclists originating from Australia, 22-year old Michael Hepburn developed his career in its early stages primarily on the track, having an impressive winning streak in that discipline since he has won the individual pursuit as a Junior in Moscow in 2009. Riding two years for Orica-GreenEDGE, the young rider recognized that track activities has taken too much of his time and attention previous seasons, and thus decided not to defend his rainbow jerseys in both team and individual pursuit, kicking-off his road season exceptionally early instead.

Being a highly successful rider on the track regarding his young age, Hepburn decided that all activities connected with racing on the velodrome are making it impossible for him to become fully prepared for the spring classics campaign, while the young Australian seeks for significant improvement in this area. Thus, having a wide range of various rainbow jerseys from the track – Orics-GreenEDGE rider has won, among many other victories, the individual pursuit as a Junior at World and National Championships in 2009, braking the world record on both occasions; Team pursuit at World Championships in 2011 and both team and individual pursuit at World Championships last year – Hepburn decided not to defend his titles in Colombia this season, and to fully concentrate on his development as a road cyclist in 2014.

"The track is all about the Olympics," Hepburn told Cyclingnews at the Mitchelton Bay Classic Series.

"I'll focus 100% on the road this year. I've been a pro for two years but the track has taken a lot of time from my road racing. I've had successful World's but February is an important month for building a road season and I've been lacking consistency in the past two years."

While, apart from the improved results in spring classics, the young Australian wants to use his endurance and strength to develop as a powerful time-trialist, the individual time trial at the National Championships held from 8 January are among the biggest goals for Hepburn in the new season. Even though the 22-year old cyclist admits he still hasn’t hit his top condition and will face a strong opposition from fellow countrymen specializing in that discipline, he is not without chances to succeed as the race will take place on the route which is very well recognized by the Orica-GreenEDGE rider - he won the road title on the same course in his first race as an U23 four years ago at the age of just 18.

"I'm in a good condition but not at 100% yet," the powerful Queenslander said.

In order to be well prepared for the spring classic races, Hepburn will kick-off his road season exceptionally early, as he has the Tour of Qatar and the Tour of Oman on his agenda after a team training camp with Orica-GreenEdge.

"I've always started my road seasons in March or April. This year I'll be doing the Classics in Belgium. I'm still young and these races take a lot of time to be good at but that’s an area I want to explore," he explained.

"I also intend to improve in time trials and we've got a lot of great sprinters in the team, so with Caleb [Ewan] coming as well [after the 2014 U23 road world championship], a lot of lead out will be needed."

2014 will a turning point in the history of the Orica-GreenEdge team as young guns like Hepburn are expected to full fill the shoes of Robbie McEwen, Stuart O’Grady, Baden Cooke and Allan Davis, who formed the core of the Australian WorldTour team two years ago.

"The team is totally different from what it was," Hepburn, who was one of the very first signings by team manager Shayne Bannan in 2011, pointed out.

"It's also quite different from the other teams. I think we have eight riders who aren't 23 yet. It's a really young group. A few spots have to be filled. I'll be doing more races this year and hopefully the results for the team will follow. I'd love to win a race but at this point, if my job for the team is done well and if I improve in a lot of areas during the season, it’ll be a good year for me."