This time last year, Simon Gerrans was a few days into a nightmare run of bad luck that hit his stellar cycling career like a mugger out of an alley.
The week before Christmas, his plans for the Australian season were ruined when he crashed on a mountain bike ride and fractured a collarbone.
While a painful blow, at the time it seemed no more than a temporary setback for the newly-crowned Australian cyclist of the year.
Instead, Gerrans' season never really happened.
It seemed that every time he returned to racing, he would crash again.
There were six in total that were public knowledge and Gerrans admits there were several more.
But after a laudable sixth at the world road championships in September and a full pre-season, Gerrans is determined to show 2015 was an aberration.
His form over the next few weeks will be one of the features of the Australian domestic season.
Gerrans has targeted the January 10 Australian road race championship, the January 17-24 Tour Down Under and the January 31 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Rd race as the launchpads for his return to form.
"2015 was not only a learning process in resilience, but it certainly made me appreciate the times where I was going really well," he told AAP.
"I'm really motivated to start the season off in good shape - and really get back to the level I was 12 months ago.
"For me, that's a real motivator ... that I'm still every bit the bike rider that I was 12 months ago.
"The goal is just to get back to winning races again - hopefully we can kick that off in January."
Gerrans added he wants to prove doubters wrong after his poor season, but admits he wants to prove to himself that he can still dominate.
"It's professional sport and they say you're only as good as your last race," he said.
"People quickly forget what you've achieved and how far you've come to get where you are.
"As much as myself, I really want to get back there and repay the support the team has given me."
While the last few weeks have featured local criteriums and the Tasmanian track carnivals, the domestic elite cycling season starts in earnest on New Year's Day.
The Bay Classic criterium series runs from January 1-4 in Geelong, Portarlington and Melbourne and is the preserve of the sprinters.
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