Simon Gerrans has been a stalwart of Orica-BikeExchange since its inception in 2012 and with the team recording its best ever year in terms of result the 36-year-old is aiming to replicate that with a good start to next season.

Last year Orica claimed two monument wins, the most notable one being Mathew Hayman’s incredible Paris Roubaix victory. They also got two GrandTour overall podium places in the Giro D’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana, and then in the Tour de France Adam Yates won the white jersey.

Although Gerran’s doesn’t race as much as he used to, this season he clocked up 68 days of racing. He started the Tour but a crash on stage 12 left him with a broken collarbone, but the Aussie is targeting the national championships for his preparation for next season.

Gerrans is ‘excited’ about what Orica can achieve in the future

The team director Matt White really is building an impressive team. He’s managed to get a mix between youth and experience, and with the new signings such as Roger Kluge, Carlos Verona, and Roman Kreuziger they will certainly be a threat once again next year.

Speaking about last season, Gerrans said: "It was also really good to see the team winning right from the start of the season through to the end so we had a good consistent year as well."

The Yates brothers are hot property in the cycling world at the moment, both have the capabilities to win the biggest races in the future and tying them down for another season was good business by the Orica hierarchy.

Caleb Ewan the Aussie sprint sensation developed well last season, and this season will be an important one for the 22-year-old, so all-in-all the team has plenty of options for next season.

It's an exciting time for the team to see this talent that we signed a few years so, really come to the forefront and do it so quickly,” admitted Gerrans.

Gerrans aims for consistency as he targets the national Championships in January

Consistency was key to Orica last year; they didn’t get many injuries to key personnel and with the talent they had in the group they were able to get some superb results.

Gerrans hopes his team can keep that ‘consistency’ as preparations for the new season are well under way. But for himself personally he wants to get up and running at the Australian national Championships in January.

"I'll aim for that whole January period and start off with the national titles," he said.

For the team they are a prestigious event, with many Aussie’s on the team it’s something Orica target, and for Gerrans he feels it will be a good opportunity both for the team and himself: “It is really important to the team and I see it as a good opportunity put in a good showing on Australian soil."

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