2018 - Nathan Earle

"Being at Team Sky where it was very robotic and a very mechanical team, and being one of the guys at the bottom of the rung on that team, I was personally lacking that sense of importance and belonging. I was just a number that did a job and was very disposable. I felt from the beginning that it was only going to be a two-year thing. That's not a nice thing. I think that you get the best out of an athlete when they really feel welcome and truly part of the team. That's what is important for me in the rest of my career."

Earle has a two-year deal with the Israel Cycling Academy and, after spending time with his new team at their bonding camp in Israel, he'd like to be around even longer than that. At 29, Earle sits in the middle of the team's age range and hopes to lend his experience to the younger members while learning from the elders.

"I think it will be a bit of a balanced role. I will be helping a little bit," he explained. "There are some talented guys in the team and it depends on what races we do. Obviously, Ben Hermans is a pretty special rider and there are some older riders on the team - luckily I'm not the oldest - that I can still learn things from."

After a challenging few years, Earle is raring to go, full of confidence this winter and heading towards the 2018 season with some big ambitions.

"I think that I'm the strongest I've ever been in terms of endurance and everything really," he said. "We haven't got our race schedule yet but if we do the Giro it would be a massive goal to be in that squad. I'd like to have a race programme that builds towards that and to be in the mix for that squad.

"It sounds like we might be doing some of the Australian races like the Cadel Evans race and the Herald Sun Tour, so it would just be the nationals and those two races where I would like to kick off with a win in January and get the morale up and show some of the guys Australia who haven't been there before."