Michael James Matthews (born 26 September 1990) is an Australian professional road and track cyclist who currently rides for

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

Career

Early career

He was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship holder, and in 2010 he became the Under 23 Road Race World Champion. Matthews left at the end of the 2012 season, and joined on an initial two-year contract from the 2013 season.

Orica–GreenEDGE (2013–2016)

Matthews was selected to ride the

2014 Giro d'Italia The 2014 Giro d'Italia was the 97th running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tour races. The race started off in Belfast, on 9 May, with a team time trial and concluded in Trieste, on 1 June, with a flat st ...

. His team won the opening team time trial in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. On Stage 2, Matthews finished eighth behind Marcel Kittel in a sprint finish, also in Belfast, to take the pink jersey for the leader of the general classification from teammate Svein Tuft. Matthews won Stage 6, a hill top finish at

Monte Cassino The Abbey of Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a Catholic Church, Catholic, Benedictines, Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Valle Latina, Latin Valley. Located on the site of the ancient ...

. Matthews withdrew from the Giro after Stage 10 after suffering a crash on Stage 9. In 2015, Matthews won the points classification jersey of

Paris–Nice Paris–Nice is a professional road bicycle racing, cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the ...

as well as a stage. He finished in third place in

Milan–San Remo Milan–Sanremo (in italian language, Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance ...

. He also met success at the opening stage of the Tour of the Basque Country by outsprinting a group of about fifty riders after a hilly day. He then went on to a second place in the Brabantse Pijl, winning the sprint of the group after nearly getting to lone escapee Ben Hermans. At the Amstel Gold Race, Matthews grabbed another notable result, when he came in third of the final dash for the line while being part of a small leading group. At the Tour de Suisse, Matthews won stage 4 after following

Peter Sagan Peter Sagan (; born 26 January 1990) is a Slovak former professional cyclist who competed in road bicycle racing and mountain bicycle racing. Sagan had a successful junior cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing career, winning the junior cross-c ...

's wheel in the sprint and passing him in the final metres. He was named in the start list for the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

. In the 2016 Tour de France, Matthews out-sprinted a breakaway group of 7 riders to win stage 10, his first stage win in the Tour de France, completing a set of Grand Tour stage victories. In August 2016, it was confirmed that Matthews would join for the 2017 season.

Team Sunweb (2017–2020)

Matthews was expected to contend for the points classification at the 2017 Tour de France, and his chances were boosted on Stage 4 after an incident during the final sprint which saw

Mark Cavendish Sir Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx people, Manx retired professional cyclist. As a Track cycling, track cyclist he specialised in the Madison (cycling), madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he ...

forced out of the race through injury and

, winner of the classification in the previous 5 Tours, disqualified. Matthews won Stage 14, a reduced peloton uphill sprint finish at

Rodez Rodez (, , ; , ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of the communau ...

. On Stage 16, the high pace set by Matthews's dropped the green jersey wearer Kittel; Matthews, who was second to Kittel in points classification, won the stage. On Stage 17, Kittel crashed and withdrew from the Tour, putting Matthews in the green jersey. Matthews retained the jersey to Paris. In 2018 he won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec ahead of Greg Van Avermaet and Jasper Stuyven, before adding the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal two days later, which he won ahead of Sonny Colbrelli and Van Avermaet. As a result, he became the second rider to win both Laurentian classic races in the same year, after compatriot Simon Gerrans in 2014. In 2019, he won two stages at the

Volta a Catalunya The Volta a Catalunya (; Tour of Catalonia, ) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of the Basque Country. The race has had ...

, before repeating his victory in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec. He finished 3rd in the 2020 Milan-San Remo and late in the year he took a top 10 in the UCI World Championships road race. A month earlier he won the 2020 Bretagne Classic Ouest–France, which was one of the few races that was run at its normal time during the COVID pandemic.

Team BikeExchange-Jayco

In August 2020, Matthews signed a two-year contract with , later renamed as , from the 2021 season. In 2021 he had some strong results but no major wins, including 4th at the Amstel Gold Race, 5th in

Gent–Wevelgem Gent–Wevelgem, officially Gent–Wevelgem – In Flanders Fields, is a road bicycle racing, road cycling race in Belgium, held annually since 1934. It is one of the classic cycle races, classic races part of the Flemish Cycling Week, run in late ...

and 6th in

. He rode Le Tour, but did not win any stages. He finished 2nd in the points classification, the second highest finish of his career, losing to

337–291. In 2022 he had top 10 finishes in Brabantse Pijl, the Amstel Gold Race and 2022 Milan-San Remo. He won the first stage at the

, his first victory with Team BikeExchange. This victory was overshadowed as it was the stage where one of his primary rivals, Sonny Colbrelli, had a near fatal heart attack after crossing the finish line. In June he won the black jersey during the COVID marred 2022 Tour de Suisse. During the 2022 Tour de France he suffered two defeats in back to back stages; finishing 2nd to his friend

Tadej Pogačar Tadej Pogačar (; born 21 September 1998) is a Slovenia, Slovenian professional road bicycle racing, cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . His victories include three Tour de France, Tours de France (2020 Tour de France, 2020, 2021 Tou ...

, and then the next day to rival Wout Van Aert. On stage 14 he got involved in a breakaway and survived to the final climb outlasting all of the breakaway riders except Alberto Bettiol. It looked as though he was about to be defeated again, when he appeared to suffer from cramps and Bettiol rode away from him on the final climb. Matthews was able to recover, catch and drop Bettiol, and solo to the line for his first Tour win this decade. In the 2023 Giro d'Italia Matthews won Stage 3 ahead of Mads Pederson in a bunch sprint. It was his first stage win at the Giro since 2015.

Personal life

In August 2015, he married his Slovak girlfriend Katarína Hajzer.

Career achievements

Major results

;2008 : 1st John Woodman Memorial : Internazionale Bresciana ::1st Points classification ::1st Prologue & Stage 3b ( ITT) : 1st Stage 7 Tour of the Murray River : 2nd Overall GP Général Patton ::1st Stage 2 : 8th Road race, UCI Junior World Championships ;2009 : Oceania Road Championships (November) ::1st Road race ::1st Under-23 road race ::1st Under-23 time trial : 2nd Silver medal Oceania

Time trial, Oceania Under-23 Road Championships (February) : National Under-23 Road Championships ::2nd Road race ::3rd

Time trial In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...

: 2nd

Gran Premio della Liberazione Gran Premio della Liberazione is an Italian road bicycle race that has been held annually on 25 April since 1946. It marks the anniversary of the 1945 fall of Benito Mussolini's Italian Social Republic. It is a Single-day race that is rated 1.2 ...

: 9th Overall

Tour of Japan The Tour of Japan is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Japan since 1996 as part of the UCI Asia Tour. It is sanctioned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a 2.2 category race. History Tour of Japan was forme ...

;2010 (2 pro wins) : 1st Road race, UCI Road World Under-23 Championships :

Tour de Langkawi The Tour de Langkawi is a stage race, multiple stage bicycle racing, bicycle race held in Malaysia. It is named after the archipelago Langkawi, where the first edition started and finished. The race has been held annually since 1996, primarily ...

::1st Stages 1 & 3 : 1st Stage 1 ( TTT) Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23 : 2nd Trofeo Banca Popolare di Vicenza : 2nd Ronde van Vlaanderen Beloften : 2nd

: National Under-23 Road Championships ::3rd Road race ::3rd

: 4th Overall

::1st Stage 1 ( ITT) : 5th Overall Tour of Wellington ::1st Stage 4 : 7th Overall Ringerike GP ::1st Stages 2 & 3 : 8th Overall Tour de l'Avenir ;2011 (3) : 1st

Rund um Köln The Rund um Köln is a Classic cycle races, classic cycling race around the German city of Cologne. Since 2005 it is part of the UCI Europe Tour, being organised as UCI race classifications, 1.1 race (in 2007 the race was categorised as 1.HC). It ...

: 1st Stage 2 Jayco Bay Cycling Classic : 1st Stage 1

Vuelta a Murcia The Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia () is a road bicycle race held in and around Murcia, Spain. The first four editions were reserved to amateurs. Originally the race was held in early March and consisted of five stages. However, due to Spain's fina ...

: 3rd

, National Road Championships : 3rd Eschborn–Frankfurt City Loop : 4th Overall

Tour Down Under The Tour Down Under (currently branded as the Santos Tour Down Under for sponsorship reasons) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and UCI Women’s WorldTour ...

::1st Stage 3 : 5th Overall Delta Tour Zeeland : 6th Grote Prijs Jef Scherens ;2012 (2) : 1st Clásica de Almería : Tour of Utah ::1st Sprints classification ::1st Stage 3 : 9th Overall

: 10th Brabantse Pijl ;2013 (4) :

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...

::1st Stages 5 & 21 ::Held after Stages 6 & 7 : Tour of Utah ::1st Sprints classification ::1st Stages 2 & 4 : National Road Championships ::2nd Road race ::3rd

: 2nd Vuelta a La Rioja ;2014 (5) : 1st Vuelta a La Rioja :

Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

::1st Stages 1 ( TTT) & 6 ::Held after Stages 2–7 ::Held after Stages 2–7 ::Held after Stages 6 & 7 :

::1st Stage 3 ::Held after Stages 3–5 ::Held after Stage 4 : Tour of Slovenia ::1st Points classification ::1st Stage 1 ( ITT) : 1st Stage 3 Tour of the Basque Country : 2nd Brabantse Pijl : 6th Trofeo Ses Salines : 7th Trofeo Palma ;2015 (5) :

::1st Stages 1 ( TTT) & 3 ::Held after Stages 2–3 ::Held after Stages 1–3 :

::1st Points classification ::1st Stage 3 : Tour of Alberta ::1st Points classification ::1st Stage 2 : 1st Stage 1 Tour of the Basque Country : 1st Stage 4 Tour de Suisse : 2nd Silver medal uci

Road race,

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and , a UCI Road World Championships ...

: 2nd Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec : 2nd Brabantse Pijl : 3rd

: 3rd Amstel Gold Race : Combativity award Stage 5

;2016 (4) : 1st Vuelta a La Rioja : 1st Stage 10

::1st Points classification ::1st Prologue & Stage 2 :

::3rd

Team time trial A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events). The winning team in a TTT is determined by the comparing the times of ...

::4th Road race : 3rd London–Surrey Classic : 4th

Bretagne Classic The Bretagne Classic, also called Bretagne Classic Ouest-France, is an elite classic cycle races, cycling classic held annually in late summer around the Brittany, Breton village of Plouay in western France. The race was originally named Grand-P ...

: 4th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal : 5th Brabantse Pijl : 5th Amstel Gold Race : 5th Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec ;2017 (4) :

::1st

::3rd

Road race :

::1st Points classification ::1st Stages 14 & 16 : 1st Stage 1 Tour of the Basque Country : 1st Stage 3 Tour de Suisse : 3rd Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec : 3rd London–Surrey Classic : 4th

Liège–Bastogne–Liège Liège–Bastogne–Liège , also known as ''La Doyenne'' ("The Old Lady"), is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium.Cycling Weekly, UK, 13 March 1993 First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five ''Cycling monument, Monuments'' of the Eur ...

: 5th

: 8th

: 8th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal : 9th

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ranking system based upon perfor ...

: 10th Amstel Gold Race ;2018 (4) : 1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec : 1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal : 1st Prologue

Tour de Romandie The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs through the Romandie region, or French-speaking part of Switzerland. The competition began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling. It ...

: 2nd

: 2nd Overall BinckBank Tour ::1st Stage 7 : 2nd Eschborn–Frankfurt : 4th

: 5th

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. It is part of the UCI World Tour. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is ...

: 7th

;2019 (3) : 1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec :

::1st Points classification ::1st Stages 2 & 6 : 4th Brabantse Pijl : 6th

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders () may refer to the following cycle races: * Tour of Flanders (men's race) The Tour of Flanders (), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race held in Belgium every spri ...

: 8th

;2020 (1) : 1st

: 3rd

: 7th Road race,

;2021 : 4th Amstel Gold Race : 5th

: 6th

Grand Prix of Aargau Canton Grand Prix of Aargau Canton () is a semi classic European bicycle race held in Aargau canton, one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. The race consists of fifteen laps around the Swiss town of Gippingen, which belongs to the municipa ...

: 9th Eschborn–Frankfurt ;2022 (2) :

::1st Stage 14 :: Combativity award Stage 14 : 1st Stage 1

: 1st Points classification, Tour de Suisse : 2nd Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec :

::3rd

Road race ::3rd Bronze medal uci

Team relay : 4th

: 4th Trofeo Pollença–Port d'Andratx : 6th Trofeo Alcúdia–Port d'Alcúdia : 6th Trofeo Playa de Palma : 7th Amstel Gold Race : 7th Brabantse Pijl ;2023 (1) : 1st Stage 3

: 1st Sprints classification,

: 3rd Road race, National Road Championships : 3rd Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec : 4th Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race : 4th

Trofeo Matteotti Trofeo Matteotti is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in Pescara, Italy. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions whic ...

;2024 (2) : 1st Team relay,

: 1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec : 1st Gran Premio Castellón : 2nd

: 7th

: 8th Brabantse Pijl : 10th Amstel Gold Race ;2025 (1) : 1st Eschborn–Frankfurt : 4th

: 5th Amstel Gold Race

Grand Tour record

Classics results timeline

Awards

*2017 – Sir Hubert Opperman Trophy (Australian Cyclist of the Year), Men's Elite Road Cyclist of the Year and the People's Choice Award. *2017 – ACT Sport Male Athlete of the Year.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Michael 1990 births Living people Australian male cyclists Australian Institute of Sport cyclists Australian Vuelta a España stage winners Sportspeople from Canberra Australian Giro d'Italia stage winners 2014 Vuelta a España stage winners Tour de Suisse stage winners Cyclists from the Australian Capital Territory Australian Tour de France stage winners ACT Academy of Sport alumni Cyclists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Australian expatriates in Germany Cyclists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for Australia 21st-century Australian sportsmen