Michael Rogers has enjoyed a fantastic comeback since he had to sit out the first part of the season due to his positive test for clembuterol and today he crowned it with a maiden stage victory in the Tour de France. The Australian says that his travails have changed his perspective and he is now willing to take a lot more risks to win races.

A few months ago Michael Rogers didn’t know whether he would ever be lining up at a professional bike race again after a positive test for clenbuterol at the Japan Cup had put his career in danger. After things were sorted out in his favour, the Australian has had a better comeback than anyone could have imagined, winning two stages of the Giro d’Italia.

He lined up at the Tour de France with the intention of supporting Alberto Contador but when the Spaniard crashed out of the race, his role changed. Today he continued the great comeback for both himself and his team when he won the first stage in the Pyrenees.

According to the Australian, his success may be written down to a new perspective on racing.

"I'm certainly riding smarter at this point of my career," he said. "I realized I have to be in it to win it. In the past, I was scared before it arrived. Now I tell myself: ‘If you try your best, the worst thing that can happen is to lose a bike race.' My new state of mind opens doors to many opportunities.

"[The time off racing before being cleared after a banned substance was detected in a test] was certainly a lesson of life for me. Previously, I accepted whatever happened. After that I took a different outlook at life. I've told myself: ‘Stop living someone else's life'.

"Goals are sometimes very hard to understand. In the past I've tried to win Grand Tours. Now I know I can win 7-days Tours. But I can't compete in Grand Tours against the likes of Contador, Nibali, Valverde… I have to get out of the overall classification to be able to break away.

"Had Alberto not crashed, I would probably not be here as a stage winner. I would have been very tired by now because of defending the yellow jersey.

"Alberto wouldn't have won the Tour easily. Nibali is in the form of his life. There would have been a great battle. Now we have to wait for next year to see that battle and I can tell you that Alberto is already thinking of next year's Tour de France. Now that I got my opportunity to win, I could be grateful to him for having abandoned the Tour but no, I'm heartbroken.

"Our plan B to go for stage wins has been studied carefully. I knew today and tomorrow's stages were adapted to my characteristics. I remembered this finish from 2010 when Voeckler won, so I knew he'd be motivated again.

"But it was very hard to get into the breakaway, particularly because of the strong head wind. We couldn't make it until Garmin managed to put one guy in the front group.

"After 30km, I was in a breakaway with four guys and one of them was sitting on, not taking any turn. He was the Europcar rider [Kévin Reza]. He was saying: ‘No, my team-mate is chasing behind'.

"Then at the bottom of the last climb, when we were three riders left, Voeckler said to me: ‘I can't ride, I have a team-mate behind'. I told him: ‘I already heard that 200km ago!' I wasn't going to be fooled on that one.

"With three Europcar riders in the front group of 21, Voeckler could control, but when they were two out of five, it became harder for him. It's great it worked out fine for me! It's the dream of every cyclist to win at the Tour de France.

"I had the feeling that my stage truly began at the foot of the final climb and at the top, we were only three guys left in the group. On the descent, Europcar's Gautier bridged the gap and rejoined Voeckler but I just rode as fast as I possibly could on the lower slopes, created the gap and kept the pace up to the finish line. No one was going to beat me today. Of course, I'm immensely happy and it's a good feeling to have a Tour de France stage win on my resume."