"I feel like I've wrung the towel dry": Winner of multiple Grand Tour stages bids farewell to professional racing

As every year, we have to come to understand that a number of reputable professionals disappear from the peloton. In that sense, the 2025 winter felt extremely nostalgic with 2018 Tour winner Geraint Thomas, 2014 Milano-Sanremo and 2015 Tour of Flanders winner Alexander Kristoff, 2013 world champion Rui Costa and many more waving goodbye to the world of cycling. A late addition to this list is Simon Clarke who wrote his final spell on home roads during the opening block of racing in Australia.

"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 before his final professional start at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. "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."

The path to WorldTour tends to be anything but straightforward, and for racers from Australia, this applies ten-fold. Clarke's road included overcoming many obstacles, including sudden disbanding of his first European team Amica Chips - Knauf. Ultimately, Clarke got to make his WorldTour debut with Astana in 2011.

"I just had my head down and stuck to it, and I'm proud of what I've achieved with that mentality," said the man who would go on to win three Grand Tour stages. "I was always very focused on how to get there, and knowing that you get there by ticking off all the small boxes, [...] 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."

Even though Clarke made (by today's standards) a late professional debut at the age of 24, his hard work, resilience and determination were rewarded with a fulfilling 15-year-long career at the highest level. During that period, Clarke got to raise his hands seven times, including three stage wins, won the King of Mountains jersey at 2012 Vuelta a Espana, or finished runner-up at the 2019 Amstel Gold Race.

His only regret would be to not have won a Giro stage in his career to complete the "Grand Tour triptych", however the Australian is happy with what he achieved during his career:

"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."

Clarke is far from disappearing from cycling. The experienced road captain will continue to stay in touch with his current employer, the NSN Cycling Team, for whom he'll work behind the scenes on technical aspect of racing.

"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."