Michael Matthews (cyclist)

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

Early career
He was an Australian Institute of Sport 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. His team won the opening team time trial in Belfast. 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. 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 as well as a stage. He finished in third place in Milan–San Remo. 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's wheel in the sprint and passing him in the final metres. He was named in the start list for the Tour de France.

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 forced out of the race through injury and Peter Sagan, winner of the classification in the previous 5 Tours, disqualified. Matthews won Stage 14, a reduced peloton uphill sprint finish at Rodez. On Stage 16, the high pace set by Matthews' 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, 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 and 6th in Milan–San Remo. 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 Mark Cavendish 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 Volta a Catalunya, 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, 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.

Major results

 * 2008
 * 1st John Woodman Memorial
 * Internazionale Bresciana
 * 1st Jersey green.svg 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 OceaniaChampionJersey.png Road race
 * 1st OceaniaChampionJersey.png Under-23 road race
 * 1st OceaniaChampionJersey.png Under-23 time trial
 * 2nd Silver medal Oceania.svg Time trial, Oceania Under-23 Road Championships (February)
 * National Under-23 Road Championships
 * 2nd Road race
 * 3rd Time trial
 * 2nd Gran Premio della Liberazione
 * 9th Overall Tour of Japan


 * 2010 (2 pro wins)
 * 1st Jersey rainbow.svg Road race, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships
 * Tour de Langkawi
 * 1st Stages 1 & 3
 * 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23
 * 2nd Trofeo Banca Popolare di Vicenza
 * 2nd Ronde van Vlaanderen Beloften
 * 2nd Gran Premio della Liberazione
 * National Under-23 Road Championships
 * 3rd Road race
 * 3rd Time trial
 * 4th Overall Tour of Japan
 * 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
 * 1st Stage 2 Jayco Bay Cycling Classic
 * 1st Stage 1 Vuelta a Murcia
 * 3rd Time trial, National Road Championships
 * 3rd Eschborn–Frankfurt City Loop
 * 4th Overall Tour Down Under
 * 1st Stage 3
 * 5th Overall Delta Tour Zeeland
 * 6th Grote Prijs Jef Scherens


 * 2012 (2)
 * 1st Clásica de Almería
 * Tour of Utah
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Sprints classification
 * 1st Stage 3
 * 9th Overall Tour Down Under
 * 10th Brabantse Pijl


 * 2013 (4)
 * Vuelta a España
 * 1st Stages 5 & 21
 * Held Jersey green.svg after Stages 6 & 7
 * Tour of Utah
 * 1st Jersey violet.svg Sprints classification
 * 1st Stages 2 & 4
 * National Road Championships
 * 2nd Road race
 * 3rd Time trial
 * 2nd Vuelta a La Rioja


 * 2014 (5)
 * 1st Vuelta a La Rioja
 * Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stages 1 (TTT) & 6
 * Held Jersey pink.svg after Stages 2–7
 * Held Jersey white.svg after Stages 2–7
 * Held Jersey blue.svg after Stages 6 & 7
 * Vuelta a España
 * 1st Stage 3
 * Held Jersey red.svg after Stages 3–5
 * Held Jersey green.svg after Stage 4
 * Tour of Slovenia
 * 1st Jersey red.svg 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)
 * Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stages 1 (TTT) & 3
 * Held Jersey pink.svg after Stages 2–3
 * Held Jersey white.svg after Stages 1–3
 * Paris–Nice
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stage 3
 * Tour of Alberta
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stage 2
 * 1st Stage 1 Tour of the Basque Country
 * 1st Stage 4 Tour de Suisse
 * 2nd Silver medal uci.svg Road race, UCI Road World Championships
 * 2nd Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
 * 2nd Brabantse Pijl
 * 3rd Milan–San Remo
 * 3rd Amstel Gold Race
 * Jersey red number.svg Combativity award Stage 5 Tour de France


 * 2016 (4)
 * 1st Vuelta a La Rioja
 * 1st Stage 10 Tour de France
 * Paris–Nice
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Prologue & Stage 2
 * UCI Road World Championships
 * 3rd Bronze medal uci.svg Team time trial
 * 4th Road race
 * 3rd London–Surrey Classic
 * 4th Bretagne Classic
 * 4th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
 * 5th Brabantse Pijl
 * 5th Amstel Gold Race
 * 5th Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec


 * 2017 (4)
 * UCI Road World Championships
 * 1st Gold medal uci.svg Team time trial
 * 3rd Bronze medal uci.svg Road race
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Jersey green.svg 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
 * 5th Bretagne Classic
 * 8th Gent–Wevelgem
 * 8th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
 * 9th UCI World Tour
 * 10th Amstel Gold Race


 * 2018 (4)
 * 1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
 * 1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
 * 1st Prologue Tour de Romandie
 * 2nd Silver medal uci.svg Team time trial, UCI Road World Championships
 * 2nd Overall BinckBank Tour
 * 1st Stage 7
 * 2nd Eschborn–Frankfurt
 * 4th Bretagne Classic
 * 5th La Flèche Wallonne
 * 7th UCI World Tour
 * 7th Milan–San Remo


 * 2019 (3)
 * 1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
 * Volta a Catalunya
 * 1st Jersey blue lines volta.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 2 & 6
 * 4th Brabantse Pijl
 * 6th Tour of Flanders
 * 8th La Flèche Wallonne


 * 2020 (1)
 * 1st Bretagne Classic
 * 3rd Milan–San Remo
 * 7th Road race, UCI Road World Championships


 * 2021
 * 4th Amstel Gold Race
 * 5th Gent–Wevelgem
 * 6th Milan–San Remo
 * 6th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
 * 9th Eschborn–Frankfurt


 * 2022 (2)
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Stage 14
 * Jersey red number.svg Combativity award Stage 14
 * 1st Stage 1 Volta a Catalunya
 * 1st Jersey black.svg Points classification, Tour de Suisse
 * 2nd Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
 * UCI Road World Championships
 * 3rd Bronze medal uci.svg Road race
 * 3rd Bronze medal uci.svg Team relay
 * 4th Milan–San Remo
 * 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 Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Jersey blue.svg Sprints classification, Tour Down Under
 * 3rd Road race, National Road Championships
 * 3rd Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
 * 4th Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
 * 4th Trofeo Matteotti


 * 2024 (1)
 * 1st Gran Premio Castellón
 * 2nd Milan–San Remo
 * 8th Brabantse Pijl
 * 10th Amstel Gold Race

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.