Matthews eyes first world road cycling win

Friday, 27 September 2019:

MICHAEL MATTHEWS of Australia riding for Team Sunweb celebrates on the podium after winning the green points jersey of the 2017 Le Tour de France in Paris, France.
MICHAEL MATTHEWS of Australia riding for Team Sunweb celebrates on the podium after winning the green points jersey of the 2017 Le Tour de France in Paris, France.


A decade after Cadel Evans' groundbreaking triumph, Michael Matthews craves an elusive win at the world road cycling championships.

Matthews will lead a strong Australian team in Sunday's elite road race and, while he is a dark horse, the Canberra star lacks no motivation, talent or reputation.

He is a proven performer at the worlds, finishing runner-up in 2015 as well as a third in 2017 and fourth in between.

Matthews also won the 2010 under-23 world title in Geelong, the year after Evans gave his career a badly needed boost by taking out the coveted world crown.

Matthews was shattered to be left off the team for last year's world championships and, after winning the green jersey two years ago at the Tour de France, this is his big career goal.

"I thought, in my career, the green jersey was the biggest one. I have that now, so next is the rainbow (world champion's jersey)," he said.

Matthews turned 29 on Thursday and marked the day with a team ride of almost six hours over the difficult worlds course in wet Yorkshire weather.

"That was a pretty good birthday present, but I had good legs and good feelings, so it could have been much worse," he said.

"If I was really suffering today with bad legs, a long day in the rain, that would really suck.

"It felt like being back home again, riding with some mates on my birthday, which we normally did when I was living back at home."

The rain in northern England has become a defining feature of this week's world championships and the forecast is for heavy showers on Sunday in the 284.5km men's road race.

"It's just going to be madness, especially with the weather," he said.

"Obviously, the parcours (race route) is difficult, but it's 10 times more difficult if it's raining, with a lot of narrow descents, a lot of narrow roads, winding in and out of towns.

"With a course like this, you just don't know what's going to happen ... it will be interesting."

Matthews said missing out on selection last year ramped up his motivation for this year's worlds.

"Coming back this year, Brad (Australian team boss Brad McGee) said 'we tried to keep you out of last year to make you really motivated for this year'. It's worked," he said.

"This is the highlight of my season so, hopefully, it all goes well."

While Slovakian Peter Sagan, French ace Julian Alaphilippe and Dutch sensation Mathieu van der Poel are the favourites, Matthews proved his form earlier this month by winning the GP Cycliste de Quebec one-day race.

"All in all, it's a nice course for me. I'm happy with it," Matthews said.

"I think I can do a good job here, so we'll see what happens on Sunday."






AAP