How things have changed for Michael Rogers. Last year he had a positive test for Clenbuterol although thankfully the UCI cleared him of any wrongdoing and he returned to racing in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Now, just 6 months on, Rogers has a new contract at Tinkoff-Saxo and three Grand Tour stages, including a win on Monte Zoncolan, one of cycling’s most feared climbs.

Now 35, the Australian has enjoyed a renaissance in his career and is looking forward to riding on with Tinkoff-Saxo. He spoke to Velonews about what motivates him.

“More so than the results, this year what really excites me is that, I think, we started to get the feeling between the riders of actual teamwork,” Rogers said. “When I say that, of course we’ve all got the same jersey on, but when you get to that point where everyone, within the team — not just in a particular race, like eight or nine riders at a tour — but I mean the whole team of 30 guys, when they all start to understand what their position is, and what their capabilities are, that’s when you are capable of special things.”

“I’ve been lucky enough to have it two times in my career, first with HTC-Highroad, and we won countless races, and also with Sky, in 2012, winning the Tour [with Bradley Wiggins]. We’re starting to get that roll going on [at Tinkoff-Saxo] as well. Now the challenge is that we keep together until the end of the season, and when everyone goes home for a couple of months, we’ll have to keep that in the back of our minds, so we’re not starting from scratch in 2015.”

Owner Oleg Tinkov’s quest to see his team become the best in the world has led the team to add new names for this season. Joining the already impressive names of Contador, Majka and Rogers are Sagan, Kiserlovski, Basso and Bodnar to name a few.

Rogers has a deal till the end of 2016 but he has balready been asked about whether he has thpught about calling it a day and hanging up his wheels.

“Oh, certainly. I’ve thought about it many times. No, really, it’s a hard sport, and every season you do takes its toll. I found this year, obviously with the wins… for me, I’ve enjoyed it immensely. I’ve enjoyed it over the past few months more than in my whole career, and that’s not just because of the wins. I’ve always had some inner battles, to find the balance of happiness, and that doesn’t always come from the results, it comes from personal performance, as well, achieving your best. And I feel I’ve really hit that sweet spot this year.”

Asked what comes next for him, he was unsure:

“I’m a bit undecided, actually, what I’ll do after [Colorado],” Rogers said. “There’s the opportunity to go the Tour of Britain [September 7-14], as well as the Canadian WorldTour races [September 12-14]. Looking further down the track, there are the one-day races at the end of the season. I definitely don’t see the worlds in there, at the moment. Saying that, the earlier I stop, the earlier I have to start again, so ideally I’d like to race all the way through.”