Simon Clarke

Simon Clarke was introduced to the sport of cycling by the Great Victorian Bike Ride, a non-competitive touring event that winds through rural Victoria.

Simon, who had no family history of cycling, was a 10-year-old in fifth grade at primary school when he joined a group of parents and friends on the ride.

“On my mountain bike with 24-inch wheels and the family and friends group from Selby Primary School, I set off to battle the 600-plus kilometre course over nine days,” he said. “Much to my surprise I got through it without too much trouble.”

He enjoyed it so much, he took part again the next year, this time with a better bike. And this time he met Olympic gold medallist Dean Woods, the patron of the ride, who spotted his talent and urged him to join a club.

Cycling, it turned out, was the sport where he clicked.

“I played basketball but was too short, I tried tennis but didn’t have the Midas touch, I enjoyed swimming but it didn’t click – perhaps my feet were too small – on the football field I lacked the rough-and-toughness, in baseball I didn’t have a quick enough arm and doing athletics I just couldn’t stay with the best,” Simon said.

“The idea of a sport where there was no prerequisite for body shape appealed to me.”

After a couple of years of training with Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club, Simon made the Victorian team in under-15s and finished third in the time trial and fourth in the road race at road nationals.

Simon went on to compete as a track rider as an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder. But in 2009 he signed his first contract as a professional rider with a European team.

In 2012, he won the mountainous fourth stage of the Tour of Spain, outsprinting German great Tony Martin to the line.

In 2016, he was added to the Australian team for the Rio Olympics, replacing the injured Simon Gerrans. In the Olympic road race, Simon worked all day for Richie Porte before pushing on to the finish in 25th place after Richie’s high-speed crash on the descent. He was the only Australian to finish the race, after the other two riders withdrew.

In 2022, he won the fifth stage of the Tour de France, after being part of a breakaway group on a stage that featured 11 sections of cobblestones.

The following year, Simon could almost taste the victory on stage six of the Giro d’Italia as he approached the finish line in Napoli.

He and Italy’s Alessandro De Marchi, the survivors of a small breakaway group, had a 40-second lead with 4km to go. But with 200m to go, the finish line in sight, the chasing peleton swept past and the chance of victory was snatched from Simon’s grasp.

“We make so many sacrifices that it really hurts when you go so close to victory like that,” Simon said. “It's not nice to lose in that way, getting caught so close – I would have preferred to be caught with 10km to go than 20m. You can't win them all, but if you don't try, you'll never know."

Earlier in the year he had finished second in the road race at the Australian road nationals and third at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

In 2024, he finished seventh in the road race at the road nationals and rode in the Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Race, before heading back to Europe with his team, Israel-Premier Tech.

In the 2024 Giro d’Italia he finished 97th overall, riding in support of teammates and getting into breakaways on stages 10 and 12.