The "eternal optimist" is how Simon Clarke describes himself and it's a character trait that has served him well through two decades as a professional cyclist. It's perhaps a necessity on the bike for a rider who's willing to throw himself into the so often doomed break to chase victory. But it also helps explain the longevity of this rider from Melbourne, who has just walked away at 39 while surrounded by family and friends at his home race, the Mapei Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
The challenges have not been lacking for the rider who made his way into the sport via the national AIS squad – which launched the career of so many Australian riders through that particular late noughties era. But Clarke has continued to be a survivor, achieving his biggest success when, had the drive that optimism begets been lacking, his career would probably have already been long over. In fact, without it, his career probably would not have got going at all.
"I was never that 16-year-old winning everything, and, sure, I had some nice results, but I was never the guy everyone was talking about as the next up-and-comer, or, you know, the guy to watch out for. And that's fine," Clarke told Cyclingnews in Geelong in the days before lining up at the WorldTour event.
"You've just got to believe in yourself and do what you think is right to achieve those goals that you set along the way. I just had my head down and stuck to it, and I'm proud of what I've achieved with that mentality," said the winner of three Grand Tour stages and two-time Olympian with 20 Grand Tours under his belt.
The dreams of being a professional cyclist or riding and winning at the Tour de France were, of course, there back in the days when he was honing his racing skills with the Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club. But there was always an understanding that this was a goal to be built brick by brick.
"I was always very focused on how to get there, and knowing that you get there by ticking off all the small boxes, you know, winning a state title, winning and medaling at a national title, being picked in the AIS team, getting taken to Europe with the AIS, spending time in Europe, getting results in Europe, and everything that goes along with achieving that.
"And I just realised that the easiest way to achieve an end goal is not thinking about the end goal, but all the little things along the way. And that's kind of what I've done my whole career, from when I was 16 until now."
The big successes didn't come early, and Clarke certainly didn't have an armchair ride through those opening years, as his first step beyond the national team was to Continental squad Amica Chips-Knauf, which duly folded in his opening season. After that he found a spot on another Continental team – ISD Neri – for two seasons before he finally made his way to the top tier with Astana in 2011.
"I saw teammates and people around me turn pro and and have success faster and more easily than me and I suppose I was a little bit envious in some ways of what they were able to achieve when I felt like I had the same commitment as them. But I also reflect back now and look at the guys who had those things come easier, and when things got tough later on, they weren't ready for it and paid a heavier price later on in their career," said Clarke.
"I look back now, and I wouldn't trade that for anything, because that gave me the resilience I needed later on .... you reflect on those times and the hard times don't seem so hard."
Redemption
After racing with Astana for a season, Clarke then joined the new Orica-GreenEdge squad in 2012. It was after this shift that the next turning point came, years after turning professional, when he got to ride his first Grand Tour – the Vuelta a España – and snare his first big win.
After watching enviously for years as his former AIS teammates, such as Cameron Meyer, Wesley Sulzberger and Jack Bobridge took on GrandTours with their WorldTour squads, there was no chance he was going to do what was then expected, and just sit back in the grupetto for three weeks to learn the game.
"I was adamant that, having missed on years of that, that I wasn't going to just be another number for that Grand Tour," said Clarke. "I was super-motivated to hit the ground running but I never thought it would go the way it did."
Out front with fellow early break rider Tony Martin on stage 4 of the 2012 Vuelta a España, Clarke played his hand to perfection on the run to the line, forcing Martin to the front and sprinting to his first professional win, and doing it on a huge stage. What's more, he then went on to close out that edition with the polka-dot jersey of the mountains classification winner on his back. It also wasn't the end of his winning ways at the Spanish Grand Tour, with another stage claimed from the break in 2018, this time while riding for EF Education-First after having made the shift from the Australian squad in 2016.
The Vuelta wins had Clarke formulating another goal to chase in the building blocks of his career, a victory in each Grand Tour. However, as the years ticked by even the eternal optimist had "not given up on, but had put that goal on the back burner, because winning a stage at the Tour is so difficult."
In fact, it looked like it may forever have proved to be a target out of reach when the season that Clarke made the shift to Qhubeka-NextHash ended up being its last. The announcement that it would fold left its riders searching for a contract extremely late in the season. It was time for Clarke to draw on that optimism and resilience he'd developed at the start of his career.
"There's always a solution to everything, it's out there, you've just got to find it," said Clarke of his attitude when he was heading into the 2022 season with no idea of what lay ahead.
"That also means setting yourself up to give yourself the best chance to find the right solution and so in that time, when I was out without a team, I had a personal nutritionist and a personal coach that wasn't linked to my team and I just said, 'right I'm going to keep training and preparing like it's any other off season, even though I have no team.'
As he was preparing for the early January Australian National Championships, a lifeline came through in the form of a one-year deal with Israel-Premier Tech. There wasn't any easing off at that point, though, for the soon-to-be father of two, who wanted to turn that lifeline into security.
He immediately delivered a run of strong results in Spain at the end of January, taking fifth, third and sixth in a trio of 1.1 races and continued that with a runner's-up spot on stage 3 of Vuelta a Andalucia in mid-February. He then produced even more top ten results through the coming months.
That all paled into insignificance, however, compared to what happened in July.
The career-defining big win
The season that started fraught with uncertainty, with the rider wondering how he was going to support his growing family, was about to deliver the Australian a win that defines a career, a victory that would never have happened had he been less determined in his pursuit of another chance.
Clarke went out in the breakaway on the cobbled stage 5 of the Tour de France and provided the fairytale ending on a drama-filled day, when a lunge on the line was just enough to clinch him the win ahead of Taco van der Hoorn. It was not only a monumental win for Clarke but also the first victory at the race for his team, who no doubt were now thankful that they had extended a lifeline to this Australian rider with a never-give-up attitude. Not to mention having the experience and tactical nous to pull off a victory on the biggest stage in the cycling world.
"That was massive. I haven't cried after many of my wins, but that one was pretty emotional," said Clarke.
"When all those things turn around, and then you get a result like that, it's, it's a pretty big relief and a pretty emotional moment."
Career and legacy secured in one swoop. So what now?
"After I won the Tour stage, I said to myself, 'Right, if I'm going to keep racing, I've got to set new goals, because I'm very goal-oriented. And the two goals I had were chase this Giro stage and and go to the Olympics - the Paris Olympics."
He explained that with the Tour win in the bag, chasing the earlier target of getting a victory at each Grand Tour was happily taken off the back burner. In 2023, "I was like, right now, I'm all in for the Giro" - which he'd led overall for a day back in 2015 in the first week - "to get this Giro stage and get the trifecta."
"That's where you saw me the year later [after the 2022 Tour stage win-Ed.], in Napoli, getting caught with 300 meters to go, which was devastating," said Clarke of his stage 6 near miss.
"But, you know, I went down fighting, and that day gave absolutely 100%, and you can sit back and analyse it every way you like, but looking back, there was, I feel like I gave it absolutely everything, and it just wasn't meant to be that day."
In the end, that was a goal he didn't get ticked off, though the Paris Olympics spot - which Clarke said he thought may actually have been tougher to achieve - did become a reality in 2024. But by then, he was ready to start plotting his next step.
"I'm 40 this year. I feel like I've wrung the towel dry, so to speak. I'm not leaving feeling like I've been forced out, or I'm not good enough anymore or whatnot. I'm just appreciative of everything I've achieved, and I'm ready to start a new chapter, and I'm glad that I can do it on my terms at a home race."
On Sunday, as he lined up in Geelong – just an hour from where he grew up – he rolled out from a place of honour at the front of the peloton. But there was clearly still a job to be done across the final 182km of his career as a professional, though if he had to steel himself on the climbs of Challambra, at least he would be reminded that he'd never have to tackle it again after Sunday - thanks to a 'Farewell Clarkey' message emblazoned across the road near the top.
Clarke's team, now known as NSN Cycling, didn't quite get the dream ending for the farewell race, but it was close. When plan A, Corbin Strong, had an untimely mechanical it all came down to the retiring rider's roommate, neo-pro Brady Gilmore, who'd been soaking up as much wisdom as he could from someone Gilmore described as "probably the most underrated bike rider in the peloton and also one of the craftiest".
The 24-year-old Australian walked away from the race with his first WorldTour podium in his very first one-day WorldTour race, while Clarke crossed the line a little later in his last, to be greeted by a swarm of family friends and well-wishers.
But while he may have now waved goodbye to his time inside the peloton, Clarke is far from disappearing from cycling, with the team that once offered him a way to keep racing also delivering a smooth path out of it.
"I'm going to keep working with the team, involved in material optimisation and aerodynamics, and I'm really motivated for that," said Clarke.
"I've already been doing it to some extent, for the last year or so, so I know what I'm in for, and I won't be waking up on Monday morning going - 'Right. What's life going to look like now?'
"I'm eager to get started."
