After a season of highs and lows with the Australian under-23 development team, 20-year-old Robert Power is now focusing on the next step in his career with Orica-GreenEDGE.

After battling illness early in the season, Rob bounced back to finish on the podium at the Città di San Vendemiano in Italy, before becoming the first Australian to win the Giro Valle d’Aosta.

“It was a great experience winning Giro Valle d’Aosta, my team did an awesome job all week,” said Robert.

However the celebrations were short lived, with Rob suffering a knee injury that has ruled him out for the remainder of the 2015 season, including the UCI Road World Championships.

“This season with the World Tour Academy has been challenging, I think it’s been a good learning experience though. It’s been a rough year with injuries, but I think it’s been great for my development going pro next year.

“My knee injury is going well, I have another scan next week which will tell me if I can get back into training.”

With his focus now on recovery, Robert has taken the opportunity to settle himself overseas to enable him to ‘hit the ground running’ when he joins professional outfit Orica-GreenEDGE in January.

“Looking ahead to the 2016 season, I’m not too sure what to expect because it’s a big jump from the under-23 ranks.

“At the moment I’m focusing on getting an apartment set up in Europe, which will make the transition to pro next year a little bit easier.”

WATCH: Rob also got some tactical and logistical experience this week when he spent a day with the GreenEDGE team at the Vuelta a Espana!