Jayco AlUla will line up at the 2026 Tour de France with a team hunting for stage victories across all 21 days.

The Australian squad, the fourth to announce their lineup for the Tour, will feature Michael Matthews, Ben O'Connor and Luke Plapp, all Grand Tour stage winners.

O'Connor won on the Col de la Loze at last year's Tour, and will be looking to bounced back from a Giro d'Italia which looked promising, but ended in 16th overall. Plapp won a stage of the Giro last year from a breakaway, which he will be seeking to do again. Matthews, meanwhile, is back racing for the first time after he broke both of his wrists in a training crash.

They will be joined by Kell O'Brien, Felix Englehardt, Pascal Ackermann, Luke Durbridge and Mauro Schmid. Ackermann is there for bunch sprints, with five Grand Tour stage wins before, while Mauro Schmid will also be looking for success on the lumpier days, after a season which has seen him take four victories.

"If you’d told me three months ago that I would be lining up for the Tour de France, I don’t think I would have believed you," Matthews, a four-time stage winner and former green jersey victor, said. "I’ve worked really hard to get back in time for the Tour, together with the team and I’m really looking forward being back.

"After missing last year with my illness and then with my crash earlier this year, it’s given me even more motivation and hunger. The Tour is the biggest race of the year and even though this will be my 9th time racing it, making the squad is always a big deal."

"We have a very strong, well-rounded team for this Tour de France," sports director Mat Hayman said. "We have Pascal there for the sprints and then a lot of rouleurs looking for stage opportunities, whether that's in the medium or high mountains.

"It’s pretty exciting to have a couple of riders who are starting their first Tour de France with Kell and Felix, it's a massive step for them in their careers. Then on the other side you have Luke Durbridge who will be returning for his 12th Tour, a real stalwart of the team and someone we can always rely on.

"There’s a strong Australian theme with Ben returning off a stage win last year. Michael Matthews has fought back from injury to be ready to take on the Tour, which has been really impressive. Then we have Plapp, who's won a stage in the Giro and would love to add one in the Tour de France.

"Rounding out the team we have Mauro Schmid, it’s yet to be seen whether he will be back in his Swiss champions colours or maybe he’s flying under the radar this year!"

The team will be taking to the roads of France in a special switch-out kit, with more 'electric' green highlights added to the purple jerseys. The kit was debuted at Paris Fashion Week.

"No leader's jersey clash to avoid, no UCI mandate, just a desire to drop something unexpected on cycling's biggest stage," MAAP said.

Michael Matthews is out of "all upcoming races" after breaking both of his wrists in a training crash on Thursday.

The Australian's plight was revealed by his team, Jayco AlUla, and means a long spell on the sidelines. He was set to race Paris-Nice, which begins on Sunday, before heading to Milan-San Remo.

"Unfortunately Michael Matthews suffered a crash whilst out training today, Thursday 5th March, and was transferred to hospital," a Jayco AlUla spokesperson said.

"Team medical staff have confirmed that CT scan results show fractures to both of his wrists, subsequently ruling him out of all upcoming races.

"Matthews is in direct contact with team medical staff and will have extensive support to aid a swift recovery."

The 35-year-old started the season well, winning the Gran Premio de Castellón in Spain, the 44th win of his 16-year career. However, his programme for the spring will now be completely shifted, with up to a couple of months off the bike the usual timeframe for recovery.

Last year Matthews was forced to take a break from racing due to signs of a pulmonary embolism.

"The health problems I had this year were obviously a massive scare, but at the same time, I feel like they've given me a second chance in cycling," the Australian told Cyclingnews in December. "I feel like it's a rebirth of my career. My new contract also gives me extra motivation, too. I honestly feel there are bigger things to come.

"I'm not really putting an end date on my career. It could come at any time, but at the moment, I'm just loving riding my bike. I love being with my teammates, I love racing, and I love competing. I honestly haven't even thought about retirement."

His contract with Jayco AlUla lasts until the end of 2027. During his lengthy career, Matthews has won stages of all three Grand Tours, and the green jersey at the Tour de France.

It is the latest training incident for pro riders. This week Belgian Leander Van Hautegem found himself disoriented in a ditch after a heavy crash. Last summer, Chris Froome was airlifted to hospital with a fractured vertebrae, collapsed lung and five broken bones sustained in an incident. Meanwhile, Jonas Vingegaard suffered minor injuries after crashing during a training ride in Spain.

Michael Matthews has been forced to put his career on hold after showing signs of a pulmonary embolism, Jayco AlUla announced on Friday, ruling him out of this summer's Tour de France which begins on 5 July.

A short update from the 34-year-old’s team explained that he would be taking time off the bike while the extent of the medical condition is explored.

"During a recent altitude training camp, GreenEdge cycling medical team discovered signs of a pulmonary embolism and have subsequently decided to pause all physical activity for the rider until further notice as a precautionary measure," a medical update on Matthews, shared on social media, read.

According to the NHS, a pulmonary embolism is when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel in the lungs. Symptoms can include sudden breathing difficulties, chest pain, and occasionally coughing up blood. The condition can be caused by a Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) or blood clot initially forming elsewhere, particularly in a person's legs.

"Matthews' health condition is stable," the update from Jayco AlUla continued. "The medical team are now thoroughly investigating the extent of the issue and possible cause to define a safe and optimal recovery process for the athlete.

"During this period of investigation, as a safeguarding measure, Matthews will refrain from competition to ensure there is no risk to his health and wellbeing, therefore ruling out his participation in the upcoming Tour de France."

Matthews won his last race that he competed in on 1 May, triumphing in a sprint at the German one-day race Eschborn-Frankfurt. He also finished fourth at Milan-San Remo in March and fifth at the Amstel Gold Race in other notable results.

The Australian is a four-time Tour de France stage winner; he also won the points classification in 2017. As well as his success at the French Grand Tour, he has stage wins at the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España to his name.

Other victories on Matthews’ palmarès include a trio of victories at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, with the most recent coming last year. He is currently ranked 26th in the UCI world rankings.

Other than the final ten kilometres or so, is there really any point in watching the final stage of the Tour de France in Paris? That’s the question many of my non-cycling friends have regularly put to me over the years when I would religiously tune in to the final day’s procession into the French capital. And to be fair, they probably did have a point.

There’s rarely any exciting racing in any shape or form until the various sprint teams start to get organised ready to tee up their elected fast man for the bunch kick along the Champs-Élysées for the unofficial sprinters World Championships. Unwritten tradition dictates that the race operates in that way on the final day, but surely a bit of variety could do no harm once in a while.

I’ve often sat and urged someone to try something completely unexpected with the aim of spoiling the party for the sprinters. That’s not because I dislike watching a high-octane sprint unfold, but more because mixing it up a little gets people excited and draws new viewers in.

After all, surely that’s why we all watch sport? To be entertained and to be surprised by what’s unfolding before us. I can remember being completely transfixed as a kid when Alexander Vinokourov won in Paris in 2005, and it would make for great viewing to see another rider pull off something similar in the years ahead.

This is why ASO’s reported idea to adjust the final stage of this year’s race to include the Butte Montmartre cobbled climb, made famous by the Paris Olympics road events, should be applauded, however unrealistic it may or may not be. The possibility of the Olympics circuit within Montmartre being replicated by the Tour was quickly ruled out in August by the Tour’s technical director Thierry Gouvenou, although an article in Le Parisien this week suggested that the idea isn't dead completely.

If it does get off the ground, then it will open the race up to an array of different dramatic possibilities, particularly given the high calibre of riders currently operating at the top end of the sport. But, in spite of the exciting prospect that the idea represents, it also still leaves a lot of questions.

For one, how would the riders final general classification times be calculated and would the stage then no longer be for purely ceremonial purposes? If so, whilst it is unlikely, it could mean that there is a very slim possibility that the action could literally go down to the wire in the fight for overall victory. Surely that alone is a thought that many cycling fans would relish, as would the perennial showman Tadej Pogačar if he finds himself a handful of seconds down on Jonas Vingegaard going into the final day this year.

But on the other hand, completely losing the tradition of a bunch dash for the line on the Champs-Élysées could impact the race in other unwelcome ways. What other incentive would then remain for 95% of the race’s sprinters to finish the event if they didn’t have their opportunity to shine on stage 21?

Sprinting is rapidly evolving and changing. There are multiple riders that now regularly contest the green jersey who could probably use a cobbled climb in Montmartre to their advantage and still win the stage - Wout van Aert, Biniam Girmay and Michael Matthews being three obvious examples, although what would then be left for the more purist sprinters, the likes of Jasper Philipsen, Dylan Groenewegen and others. The answer is not a lot.

Given that riders in that ilk add drama and excitement to the race in different ways to the more Classics-orientated riders and Grand Tour winners, it would be a shame to completely eradicate their final chance for glory and to see a fair few of them abandon early on.

Ultimately, the prospect of change is good and should be applauded. The success of the final stages in and around Nice last year showed that an adaptation to the course, enforced or not, can work for the race in the future. But erasing the possibility of a bunch sprint in Paris should only be brought into play for one year only. It would make for an exciting and interesting final day once, but bringing in a spectacle like that indefinitely to the race could do more harm than it really would be worth.

Tadej Pogačar was denied the win on his return to WorldTour racing at the GP Québec, but he showed ominous signs of what’s to come as his World Championships preparation ramps up in Canada. 

The Slovenian has not raced since taking his third Tour de France victory in July. Pogačar tore into the final laps on the Québec circuit, urging his UAE Emirates teammates to ramp up the pace as he got set to launch a typically unanswerable attack to get the race won. 

The attack eventually came, although he took Arnaud De Lie and two other Lotto Dstny riders with him which resulted in the move breaking down. A late surge from the peloton meant that the main field came back to the four riders before Michael Matthews eventually took the victory. 

Biniam Girmay came home in second and Groupama FDJ’s Rudy Molard took third. 

Pogačar was forced to settle for seventh after being boxed in during the reduced bunch sprint for the line. He admitted that he had hesitated in the finale and should have attacked earlier. Nevertheless, he explained that he was satisfied with his physical shape ahead of the GP Montréal on Sunday and said he felt prepared for the challenge ahead. 

"We managed to do a really hard last couple of laps but I was not sure in the last kilometre if I would attack or not, but I made the wrong decision and waited for the sprint," he said. "But I'm super happy to be back, the legs were turning good and I cannot wait for Sunday."

"I was not expecting these good legs to be back," he added. "So I'm super happy with the shape and how I managed the first race after a bit of a rest. I think I'm ready for Sunday and the World Championships now."

Pogačar has won the GP Montréal before in 2022, and this Sunday’s race is likely to be a better form indicator for the Slovenian as he gets set to travel to Zurich for the worlds later this month. 

He suggested that he regretted the decision to keep his powder dry until the closing moments in Québec, but said that he would not allow himself to dwell on it as his preparations for a shot at the rainbow bands continue.

"I did not go for a longer attack because I looked back and there was still a gap with one kilometre to go," he explained. "With three guys from Lotto I was thinking we would make it to the finish, but the group was coming from behind really fast and I should have launched it before.

"Maybe I could have stayed away but it is what it is, it was really fun racing and I enjoyed it a lot."

Michael Matthews capped an emotional and difficult week in Canada by taking his third victory at the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec. 

After arriving in North America, the 32-year-old watched his grandmother’s funeral online from his hotel room after she recently passed away in Australia. Matthews was full of emotion at the finish and dedicated his win, at a race that’s rapidly becoming his own, to her memory. 

The Australian had to bide his time in the final few kilometres after Tadej Pogačar and Arnaud De Lie pulled away from the front of the peloton on the race’s final climb, the Côte des Glacis. 

He was then forced to gamble on the move being reeled back in before unleashing a typically powerful sprint from range on the Grande Allée which ensured he’d take the win ahead of Biniam Girmay. 

Matthews used his winner’s press conference to pay tribute to his grandmother and said he had been determined to end a difficult week for his family on a high. 

"This one's for my grandma who passed away last Wednesday," he said. "I watched her funeral online here in Québec two days ago. So to turn that around to victory today, two days later, after watching her coffin go into the ground is really quite emotional honestly.

"Seeing the funeral online, and watching my family be together with me being here on the other side of the world by myself, not with them, that gave me extra extra energy for today. For sure, I thought if I couldn't win today, honestly, what's the point of being here. I just can't believe I could actually pull this off after such a hard moment for my family in all of our lives."

Matthews noted the huge array of powerful riders on the start line in Québec but said that it didn’t matter who he had been up against, he fully believed he would come out on top. 

He said: "I'm not the fastest guy in a typical bunch sprint, but on a finish like this, I can battle with the best. I think I had a smile on my face for that final 300 metres. It was long, but I knew once I launched, it would have been difficult for someone to come around me."

Ready for Montréal

Much of the pre-race noise had centred around Pogačar returning to action in Canada after achieving his third Tour de France title in July. Matthews and the Slovenian are close friends, but the race winner said he used Pogačar’s presence to enable him to fly under the radar as he looked to get back to winning ways. 

Matthews was left frustrated in the spring after narrowly missing out on victory at Milan-San Remo before he then was relegated from the podium at the Tour of Flanders due to allegedly deviating from his line in the final sprint. 

"I think wherever Tadej goes, he's going to have the spotlight on him," Matthews said. "He can't go into a race anymore not to win. He's great for the sport, but I just focused on myself and made sure I delivered the job for my team. I was really happy that I could do that today."

Matthews was mobbed by his Jayco teammates at the finish as they celebrated together. Simon Yates said that the team could now go into Sunday’s GP Montréal full of belief after Matthews’ dominant win. 

"This is his race," he said. "If you go back and look at his results here, I don’t think he’s ever been outside the top ten. It’s a super special race for him and I’m sure we will now go and give Montréal a good crack on Sunday."

POGACAR IS HUMAN AFTER ALL 

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) began the second week with a lead of 39 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), over a minute over his other rivals, and, perhaps most importantly of all, an aura of invisibility. The defending champion had spent the previous week attacking at will, chasing seconds wherever he could gain them, all while seemingly immune to ever feeling any kind of fatigue.

That aura was dramatically and definitively shattered on the slopes of the Col du Grandon during Wednesday’s stage 11, a day that will be talked about for years to come. It turns out that the 23-year-old does have limits after all, as he appeared to pay the price for chasing down Jumbo-Visma’s attacks earlier in the stage by blowing up completely on the final climb. 

The sight of each of the other GC contenders one by one riding away from Pogačar on the climb, having time and time again been so humbled by him over the last few years, was startling, as if he had suddenly been exposed to the same forces of gravity that the others have been subjected to the whole time. 

The huge 2-51 he lost that day to Vingegaard put Pogačar in a situation unprecedented in his career so far, and also posed a big question about his character and temperament. But so far he’s passed that test with flying colours, continuing to ride with a care-free, fun-loving attitude, and showing no signs of entitlement or wounded pride despite for once not having things all his own way. 

It might be that he overturns the 2-22 deficit he now has to Vingegaard in the final week and win a third successive yellow jersey after all. But even if he does, this week will always be remembered as the one where Tadej Pogačar was proven to be human after all. 

VINGEGAARD EMERGES FROM POGACAR’S SHADOW

Before last week, Jonas Vingegaad’s career had above all been defined by finishing second to Tadej Pogačar. 

That was of course the outcome of his breakthrough ride at last year’s Tour de France, where he also twice placed second behind him at summit finishes in the Pyrenees as well. But the Dane has also been edged into a runner-up spot by his rival an additional four times — on the GC and in two stages of this year’s Tirreno-Adriatico, and on La Super Planche des Belles Filles earlier this Tour. 

Victory on the Col du Granon was therefore the first time Vingegaard has fully emerged from Pogačar's shadow, and really come to our attention as someone more than the Slovenian’s eternal bridesmaid. For all he has impressed over the last few years, he’s never landed really big wins, with only a stage win each at the 2020 Tour of Poland and this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné to his name at World Tour level, and nothing at Grand Tours.

To register a first, and take the yellow jersey in the process, was a huge breakthrough in his career.

Since that day, Vingegaard has also looked very comfortable in yellow, following Pogačar's attacks on l’Alpe d’Huez, and sticking resolutely to his wheel on stage 14’s steep finish to Mende. As was the case in the Pyrenees last year, he’s been equal to all of Pogačar’s moves in the mountains, and if he can continue to do that during the final week, then a famous Tour de France title awaits. 

DENMARK IS THE NEW SLOVENIA

From the huge crowds that turned up on the roadside for the Copenhagen Grand Depart and following two stages, you sensed that this was going to be a special Tour for the Danish. But even considering the high expectations, the second week saw an especially sensational run of results for the nation’s riders.

Vingegaard’s triumph on stage 11 and subsequent four days wearing the yellow jersey have of course been the highlight, but either side of that were two other stage wins that saw Danish riders take the top step of the podium three times in four days.

The week began with Magnus Cort (EF Education-Easypost) winning stage 11 from a breakaway, continuing his eye-catching race that had already seen him wear the polka-dot jersey for a week. Then, two days after Vingegaard’s triumph, Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) landed the stage he’s been chasing all Tour. 

These riders are all part of a golden generation of Danish talent, that also includes Tour of Flanders winner Kasper Asgreen, two-time Tour stage winner Søren Kragh Andersen and Amstel Gold winner Michael Valgren. They’ve provided great entertainment in recent years, and have epitomised the aggressive racing and all-or-nothing attitudes that has become the staple of contemporary cycling. 

But it’s Vingegaard’s breakthrough that has really put the nation on the map. He’s now on the brink of becoming only the second ever Nordic winner of the yellow jersey (following the now disgraced Bjørn Riis), a result that could elevate the sport in much the way Bradley Wiggins’ victory did for Britain in 2012, and Tadej Pogačar’s result in 2020 did for Slovenia. 

Remembering the emotional scenes at Copenhagen, when the 25-years shed tears from the raucous reception given to him, it will be something special if he can seal overall victory.

FRUSTRATED SPRINTERS TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS AND WIN FROM BREAKAWAYS

Much like the first week, chances were few and far between for the sprinters this week. In fact, it took until Sunday’s stage 15 for there to be a bunch finish (won by Jasper Philipsen, Alpecin-Deceuninck), and even that was contested by a reduced bunch missing Fabio Jakobsen (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal). 

In this unfavourable terrain, some of the fastmen who are also capable climbers took it upon themselves to hunt for victories another way by targeting the breakaways instead — and to great success.

Magnus Cort set the precedent by winning from the break on stage 10, using his fast kick to take the win from a small group that came together at the top of the Montée de l'Altiport de Megève. 

Then Mads Pedersen got into the break on stage 13, somewhat counter-intuitively considering that it looked like a likely day for a bunch sprint, and how Pedersen had already come close to winning stage two’s bunch sprint. But the way he helped the break stay clear, before smartly launching his own attack to rid himself of all but two of his breakaway companions, both of whom he comfortably out-sprinted in the finish, proved he’d made the right call. 

Perhaps inspired by Pedersen’s bold ride, Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) then got into the breakaway the following day, and procured an even more surprisingly aggressive performance. He launched a seemingly kamikaze solo attack long before the final climb, yet still had the legs to attack Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-Easypost) despite being caught by the Italian on the final climb. 

Matthews would already have had two stage wins were it not for the unreasonable talented Tadej Pogačar and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), who beat him into second at stage 6 and 8 respectively, and his inability to beat them was evidently frustrating the Australian. Rather than chance his luck in another group finish, he deduced that his best chance to win would be from a break, and was rewarded handsomely for his boldness. 

PIDCOCK CONFIRMS STAR STATUS ON GRANDEST CLIMB OF THEM ALL

Alpe d’Huez is a climb where legends are made, so the fact that 22-year-old sensation Tom Pidcock claimed his first Grand Tour stage here feels prophetic. 

Pidcock had already greatly impressed on Tour debut, starting that stage in eleventh on GC having negotiated all the tests the first half of a Grand Tout throws up. 

But what he did on the Alpe was something else. Known previously for his punchy riding style and talent over the cobbles, this was Pidcock as pure climber, and he flew up the climb to take victory of esteemed climbers Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), and none other than Chris Froome (Israel-PremierTech).

Froome’s presence in the break alongside him felt especially symbolic, as if the old British star was handing the baton to the nation’s next generational star. It was the kind of ride that suggested Pidcock could one day replicate Froome’s feat of winning the yellow jersey, which sounds like a premature prediction to make, but feels justified considering Pidcock’s own blithely confident manner. 

To do that, the Ineos rider would have to specialise more as a Grand Tour rider, which doesn’t seem on the cards for now, especially as he continued to harbour ambitions away from the road. For now, what remains so special about him is his versatility — as was on display during the stage, when he descended mesmerically to get to the front of the race prior to the final climb.

If we weren’t sure of it already, it’s even clearer now that Pidcock is the future of British cycling. 

Michael Matthews knew that he had to try something different to win a stage at this year's Tour de France. On the punchy finishes where he used to excel, he has been beaten by two of the best bike riders in the world, in Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) at this year's race.

Essentially, the BikeExchange-Jayco rider needed to get somewhere where one of these two couldn't challenge him — up the road. This is exactly what he did on Saturday's stage 14, infiltrating the day's massive break, which mostly consisted of climbers, not men of Matthews' build. But he kept the faith, even attacked the men he was with with 50km to go. 

It all came from a conversation he had with his wife last night, where she told him he needed to gamble, throw something out there, try something different, in order to breakthrough.

"She just said to me if you want to win, you've got to gamble, you’ve got to throw it all out there, try something different, something they won't expect from you," Matthews explained in his post-stage press conference. "That was my goal for today to try something different and surprise people. It worked well."

It is five years since the Australian last won a Tour stage, five years during which there has been a lot of change; the 31-year-old has gone from challenging the likes of Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies), and Marcel Kittel, who has now retired, to the new generation, the likes of Van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, and Pogačar.

"It’s been difficult," Matthews explained. "The Tour de France is such a special race. Everyone comes here with a certain goal, and unfortunately you don’t get to choose the stages, they’re laid out for you. Nothing has been suited to me very well, and I've always come up second best, third best."

"I think, sometimes you go through more difficult periods, you go through a dry period, and you haven't got a victory for a while, and you sort of start to doubt yourself a little bit, perhaps," his directeur sportif David McPartland. "But everyone knows that Michael is such a class bike rider. He looks for opportunities in different ways. Today, it's just proven that he can adapt to it, and he can win from breakaways."

Matthews pointed out the statistic that he is the rider with the most podium finishes, top five finishes, and top ten finishes, without a win in the Grand Tours since 2019. It has clearly been playing on his mind.

However, on the road to Mende, the Australian proved that he still has it, unlike his old rival Sagan, who has looked a shadow of his former self at this year's race. It just took a different approach, something different. Surprise people, as he said.

"I think the most exciting part there is, is he went on the attack, he wanted to do that, and he made it happen," McPartland said. "He's understood that to win,  he can take different ways to do it. And he has made it happen himself.

"He's special, he can do anything on his day, he can sprint, he can climb ride crosswinds, he can do everything."

At this year's Tour, Matthews has very much been going for punchy stages - he finished second behind Pogačar in Longwy on stage six, before finishing second in Lausanne behind Van Aert. However, it was still a shock to see him climbing so well on Saturday.

"I think I’m still the same rider, but sometimes you need to adapt to the role you’ve been given, especially at the Tour de France," he said. "I knew we’d have Dylan [Groenewegen] as our flat sprinter, so I adapted my training to be a better climber. I’m still the same rider, but needed to adapt a little bit to this Tour de France too."

The Australian spoke emotionally about the sacrifices his family have given up to help him get to this point, to support his life at the top of such a tough sport.

"My wife and daughter were going through my mind the whole day," Matthews said. "I just wanted to make them proud of me. They sacrifice so much for me, we don't get to spend enough time together, because we want to make our dreams come true. Hopefully today my wife and daughter were proud of me. 

They were going through my mind, especially on that final climb when [Alberto] Bettiol passed me. I knew I couldn’t give up, I wanted to show my daughter this is why I race so much. This is what we sacrifice for. Hopefully she’s proud of me."

The way he returned from being overtaken by EF Education-EasyPost's Bettiol on the final climb was impressive to watch, and spoke to the way he had trained for this kind of thing. Once he had got into a hard-fought break, he knew he had to make it count. First the attack from afar, and then charging up the last climb of the day.

"The final climb was the longest 2km of this Tour de France," Matthews said. "The fans were screaming so loud that I actually couldn’t feel my legs. The emotions, being first in the Tour de France, on a climb, I knew I couldn’t give up. 

"I had Matty Hayman on the radio, cheering me on, to say mate, ride as fast as you can from the bottom to the top and you will win, I just had to believe. When Bettiol caught me, I had a little bit left, but not much, I had to pace it, so I had to keep him within reach. 

"When I get close to the top of a climb I can go very deep. I knew I needed to attack him straight away. It worked out. I don’t know what to say, it was a magical day."

One of the people to congratulate the always-popular Matthews after the finish line was Pogačar, the man in the white jersey taking time to celebrate his friend. The Australian benefits from that relationship, explaining that today's stage was just like one of their training rides.

"Seeing how he is at this Tour de France, he has been exceptional," he said. "He’s going to fight for that yellow jersey all the way to Paris. Seeing him never give up is inspiring to me to never give up also. He’s an exceptional talent, he's an amazing guy. After the finish line, when he saw me, it felt like his win also. When he won, when he beat me, I felt it was my win. 

"Our relationship is that when we’re racing we’re racing, but everything else is pure friendship. We don’t feel like we’re training, we don't feel like we're working, we just feel like we’re two kids going out and racing with each other. Today felt like that, but obviously he was in the bunch so thank god."

Matthews knew that to win, he had to be clear of Van Aert and Pogačar, and that's exactly what he did. The conversion to a breakaway artist suits him well.

BikeExchange-Jayco has today announced its Tour de France selection and the surprise omission from the Australian team's lineup was Simon Yates.

Yates' most recent racing action was at the Giro d’Italia earlier this year in which he won two stages. He later abandoned the Giro due to pain from a knee injury picked up in a crash on stage four during the race. 

Yates was expected to race the Tour de France if he had recovered in time. But after a longer recovery period, including some time away from his bike, he will now ride the Vuelta a Espana later this year instead. It is a race he won in 2018. 

The 29 year old climber has enjoyed success at the Tour in the past. He won the best young rider classification in 2017 and won two stages at the 2019 edition of the Tour but crashed out of proceedings in 2021.

In this year's Giro he won the stage two time trial in Budapest before later taking victory on an enthralling stage 14 in the hills around Torino. The second stage win came despite Yates battling with the knee injury that would eventually cause him to leave the race. 

The absence of Yates means that BikeExchange-Jayco will arrive in Copenhagen with their hopes of stage wins pinned on sprinters Dylan Groenewegen and Michael Matthews. Both have proven success at the Tour de France, racking up one green jersey and seven stage wins between them.

Another notable absence for the Australian team was US National Time Trial Champion, Lawson Craddock. 

Team manager Matt White said the team’s selection for the grand-tour could be competitive over various terrain.

“This is an experienced group to be taking to what is always a beautiful, yet stressful block of racing. We have a team of guys who can win stages and be very competitive across the three weeks over various terrains. There is one thing for sure; this group will put their hearts and souls into our daily plans and objectives from day one in Copenhagen, until we cross that finish line in Paris,” said White

Groenewegen’s last featured at the Tour de France in 2019, taking a stage win that year. 

A big target for the Australian outfit is the second stage in Copenhagen.

Groenewegen said: “I hope there is not too much wind so it can finish with a sprint. The sprints at the TDF are always hectic, not only with all the sprinters but there’s always general classification riders trying to stay at the front too for the time, so it’s always busy in the bunch and this makes it different to other races. Having these experienced riders around me in the finals will be important during the whole Tour.” 

BikeExchange-Jayco line-up in full: 

Dylan Groenewegen, Luka Mezgec, Michael Matthews, Luke Durbidge, Chris Juul-Jensen, Jack Bauer, Nick Schultz and Amund Grøndahl Jansen.

Michael Matthews powered up the final uphill drag to win the opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya on Monday afternoon.

The BikeExchange-Jayco rider timed his effort to perfection, outsprinting Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious) in the final metres of the stage to Sant Feliu de Guíxolss. Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) came third.

It is the second time that the Australian has won in the Catalan town, after 2019's edition. It was also Matthews' first win since 2020, "it has been a long time", he said post-race.

Following the stage, Colbrelli collapsed and received medical treatment at the finish line, and was then taken to hospital, but was reportedly in a "stable condition".

How it happened

There was an attack right from the gun in Sant Feliu de Guíxols on Monday morning, as the Volta a Catalunya got underway.

The six were caught quickly by the peloton, however, before there was a flurry of further attacks out of the main bunch. It took until 43km in for the first break to stick, however, with Jetse Bol, (Burgos-BH), Marco Brenner (Team DSM) Jonathan Klever Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost), Carlos Canal and Antonio Jesús Soto (btoh Euskaltel - Euskadi), and Raúl García Pierna (Equipo Kern Pharma) establishing a gap.

The time between the leaders on the road and the peloton grew to over three minutes, however it never looked like they would stay away.

With 88km to go there were echelons in the peloton as crosswinds affected the action, which left Israel-Premier Tech and BikeExchange looking to be taking an advantage, with six and five riders in the front group respectively.

The six in the break were caught with 78km to go. Teams caught out in the crosswinds split pushed on behind, and the main peloton was reassembled with 50km to go.

Caicedo took the opportunity to attack once again, and was followed by Nans Peters (AG2R Citröen), with the two grand tour stage winners looking good for a brief moment before the latter suffered a puncture.

The Ecuadorean was joined by Pieter Serry (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ), Théo Delacroix (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Jonas Hvideberg (Team DSM), and Alex Molenaar (Burgos-BH). That six held a lead of about a minute heading into the final 35km.

On the descent from the Alt de Romanyà there was a small crash which seemed to have affected Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), with his team working hard to bring him back.

The escapees were finally caught with 7.7km to go, when the pace really stepped up in the peloton ahead of the last few kilometres.

On the final drag to the finish line, Carapaz was one of the first to attack, while behind Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious) and Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) waited for their moment.

Matthews finally sprinted, with Colbrelli following and taking the other side of the road, but the former held out to claim victory in Sant Feliu de Guíxols.

Results

Volta a Catalunya 2022, stage one: Sant Feliu de Guíxols to Sant Feliu de Guíxols (171.2km)

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco, in 3-47-11
2. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious
3. Quentin Pacher (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
4. Sergio Higuita (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe
5. Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl
6. Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
7. Simon Clarke (Aus) Israel-Premier Tech
8. Eduard Prades (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
9. Hugo Hoffstetter (Fra) Arkéa-Samsic
10. Attila Valter (Hun) Groupama-FDJ, all at same time

General classification after stage one

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco, in 3-47-01
2. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious, at 4s
3. Jonas Iversby Hvideberg (Nor) Team DSM, same time
4. Quentin Pacher (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 6s
5. Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, at 10s
6. Sergio Higuita (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe
7. Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
8. Simon Clarke (Aus) Israel-Premier Tech
9. Eduard Prades (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
10. Hugo Hoffstetter (Fra) Arkéa-Samsic, all at same time

Michael Matthews says it's a shame to be out of the Giro d'Italia after a false positive Covid-19 result but is ultimately happy to be healthy and not have contracted the virus.

"On the first rest day of the Giro I tested positive and the same day I was taken off the race. The next morning I took another test and it turned out negative. That was good news. On Wednesday I got another PCR test and it was also negative. Of course, I am very happy with that," Matthews said in a video message posted on his Instagram.

"But most importantly I am healthy, just like my team and the peloton around me - because all tests came out negative. On the one hand, it is a shame to be out of the game but I am happy that I am fit and healthy and that I do not have Covid-19. On Monday, I will undergo another test. So hopefully it is also negative and I am 110 percent corona free."

These additional negative results, while frustrating for Matthews, will be welcomed by his team-mate Wilco Kelderman, who currently sits second place on GC, 40 seconds down on race leader João Almeida (Deceuninck - Quick-Step).

>>> No further positives at Giro d’Italia after 512 riders and staff undergo additional coronavirus test

"They are doing very well. We rode very well until the rest day. Since then they have continued their fight for the pink," Matthews added.

Meanwhile, Sunweb's Tiesj Benoot was forced to skip Gent-Wevelgem after he had sat at the same dinner table as fellow pro rider Jan Bakelants, who's season ended prematurely after he tested positive for the coronavirus last week.

"They regarded it as a 'positive contact'. You can discuss this, but according to the protocol of the UCI and the teams, the team made the only right decision," Benoot told  Het Laatste Nieuws. "I watched Gent-Wevelgem on TV. Nice to see, but I would have preferred to race it myself. Especially since it was one of the toughest finals in years.

"Anyway, it happened and I can't do anything about it anymore."

Instead, Benoot will turn his attention to the Tour of Flanders, where he has recorded three top 10 finishes previously.

"I feel ready. You have Van Aert and Van der Poel. Below that is a large group of 15, 20 riders who have a chance. I include myself in that," Benoot said.

Michael Matthews has returned a negative coronavirus test result one day after testing positive and withdrawing from the 2020 Giro d'Italia.

The Australian rider was pulled from the race before the start of stage 10, having been among a number of riders and support staff to test positive on the first rest day, but has apparently now returned a second test that has come back negative, according to Wielerflits.

This second test could indicate that Matthews' Giro test returned a false positive, and his Sunweb team will conduct another PCR test on their rider in the coming days.

The result of the third test will determine whether Matthews' season will end. Having only ridden half of the Giro, the 30-year-old could now line-up for the Tour of Flanders or the Vuelta a España.

>>> Mark Cavendish says rumours of race cancellations caused the tears at Gent-Wevelgem

Jumbo-Visma's Steven Kruijswijk was another high-profile rider to test positive on the rest day, with his team subsequently withdrawing from the Italian Grand Tour. After re-testing, the Dutchman returned a second positive result.

Mitchelton-Scott also withdrew their entire team after four of their staff members tested positive, following team leader Simon Yates being pulled from the race last week after testing positive.

One video posted on Twitter claims to show members of up to four teams mixing with journalists and members of the public in a hotel restaurant on the Giro's rest day, showing the difficulties of maintaining the race bubble and reducing the chance of positives appearing in the peloton.

The Giro still has 10 stages remaining as it makes its way to Milan, already two teams lighter. Deceuninck - Quick-Step's João Almeida currently leads the general classification, 34 seconds ahead of Sunweb's Wilco Kelderman.

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Michael Matthews has withdrawn from the Giro d’Italia after testing positive for coronavirus. 

The Sunweb sprinter will not start stage 10 after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 during testing on the first rest day. 

All riders and staff at the 2020 Giro were tested for coronavirus on Monday (October 12), with two riders and six staff members returning positive results. 

>>> Mitchelton-Scott withdraws entire team from Giro d’Italia after coronavirus positives

Sunweb have confirmed that Matthews is one of the riders, while Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) is the second rider to leave after also testing positive for coronavirus during the rest day. 

Mitchelton-Scott have also pulled their entire team from the race after four staff members were diagnosed with coronavirus. 

A statement from Matthews’s Sunweb team said: “After undergoing a PCR test at yesterday’s Giro d’Italia rest day, Sunweb’s Michael Matthews has tested positive for Covid-19. He is currently asymptomatic, feels healthy and after receiving the results early this morning, he is now in quarantine.

All other riders and staff returned a negative test and at this stage, no other team member displays symptoms of COVID-19. 

“The team will continue to closely monitor all within their bubble, operating with as much discipline as possible, doing the maximum it can.” 

A total of six team staff members working at the Giro d’Italia have also tested positive for coronavirus, including four from Mitchelton-Scott, one from AG2R La Mondiale and one from Ineos Grenadiers.

After pulling their general classification leader Simon Yates out of the race after he contracted coronavirus in the first week, Mitchelton-Scott have now opted to withdraw their entire team from the race to protect the health of their riders and staff.

All those who have tested positive for Covid-19 have been left in the care of their team’s doctors and will undergo isolation procedures.   

Michael Matthews is leaving Sunweb before the end of his contract to re-join his old Mitchelton-Scott squad.

The Australian Classics specialist and sprinter requested to leave the team as he felt he didn’t fit in with their new strategy, as the squad tries sign a wider range of riders capable of winning one-day races. 

Sunweb said the German-registered team is “developing for the future” and wants to create more opportunities to win in one-day races and sprints. 

Matthews was left out of Sunweb’s Tour de France squad this year despite clearly being in good form, finishing third in Milan-San Remo and winning the Bretagne Classic in the week before the Tour’s Grand Départ in Nice. 

The 29-year-old said: “The team is very ambitious and increasingly want to work with a broader collective of riders deeper in the finales of classics and sprint races. Those tactics do not ideally fit with my ambitions and specific strengths to sprint for the wins. For that reason, I decided to ask permission to investigate opportunities to look for a different team and I appreciate that Team Sunweb was open for this.” 

Australian WorldTour team Mitchelton-Scott has now welcomed Matthews back on a two-season deal, having ridden for the team between 2014 and 2016, racking 18 wins in that time.  

Team owner Gerry Ryan said: “Michael is a one-of-a-kind rider and has given this organisation some of our most spectacular victories on the world’s biggest stage, including the Tour de France.

“We couldn’t be happier to have him back home, this is where he belongs.”

Sunweb has been undergoing a major transformation in recent seasons, kickstarted by the departure of their Grand Tour leader Tom Dumoulin at the end of last season. 

Next year, Romain Bardet will be coming in to lead the team over three weeks while the team also hopes to develop talents like Nils Eekhoff, Marc Hirschi and Cees Bol. 

>>> Julian Alaphilippe faces battle between heart and head on mounting another fight for yellow

Team manager Iwan Spekenbrink said: “We are now in a position where the composition of the team has changed, and we want to exploit that broadened collective strength in the classics and the sprints. We respect that Michael has been open about his view on our goals and tactics in relation to his own specific strengths.

"Michael is an incredibly gifted rider; he is ambitious, we’ve really achieved great things together and he has been a good fit to the team. All of this combined made us decide to respond favourably to his request to search for opportunities elsewhere.”

Michael Matthews (Sunweb) took victory at the Bretagne Classic - Ouest-France in a small bunch finish ahead of Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) after his team-mate, Nils Eekoff split the peloton in the final 3km of the race.

The race was filled with attacks started by Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) with 70km to go, after that it was attacks left right and centre all the way to the last couple of kilometres.

It came down to a sprint between a group of seven riders who managed to just hold off the bunch sprint behind in the peloton with Matthews taking victory.

How it happened

The peloton started the day in the Brittany town of Plouay in awful weather, the riders had a 247.5km route that looped around Plouay before finishing where they started.

Luckily for the riders, the weather cleared and the sun came out as the early break made up of eight riders went away. Those eight riders were: Joey Rosskopf (CCC Team), Floris De Tier (Alpecin-Fenix), Will Clarke (Trek-Segafredo), Zhandos Bizhigitov (Astana), Alexander Cataford (Israel Start-Up Nation), Julien Morice (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept), Maxime Cam (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) and Rémi Cavagna.

>>> Strava stats reveal the power behind the European Time Trial Championships, including Lizzy Banks, Alex Dowsett and Victor Campenaerts

They pulled the gap out to about 2-30, but it was dropping very rapidly as the riders headed to the hillier part of the course.

But as the break got to the feed zone with 70km to go, Cavagna put in a stinging solo attack which detonated the break, with most of the breakaway riders dropped back to the peloton.

Only De Tier and Rosskopf carried on the chase after the French time trial champion, who pulled his gap out to just over a minute with 60km to go.

The chasers were caught with about 55km to go and then the peloton started to split with 50km to go as Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) pulled out about 20 riders including Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb). With the peloton chasing rapidly behind, Cavagna's gap was down to 45 seconds.

The peloton pulled it back but the attacks were coming thick and fast now as the riders headed into the final 50km.

Six riders went clear of the peloton, led by teenager Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo), with another four riders joining. But the move was killed by Florian Sénéchal (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) and Álvaro Hodeg (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) disrupting the race. These attacks however meant that Cavagna was caught with 44km to go.

>>> ‘Too many serious crashes have occurred recently,’ says UCI

Then a three man break went away with 42km to go, Harm Van Hoecke (Lotto-Soudal), Robert Stannard (Mitchelton-Scott) and Albert Torres (Movistar Team) managed to pull a gap of about 47 seconds.

The new break was caught with 22km to go as Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ) went away with Sergio Henao (UAE Team Emirates) bridging across. Quickly that move was brought back.

The peloton was all together lead by Janik Steimle (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) as they hit the final circuit with 17km to go.

As the rider went into the final lap of the race, Britain's Scott Thwaites (Alpecin-Fenix) went solo to try his luck at a surprise victory but was brought back with 9km to go along with a few other riders who had bridged.

Victor Lafay (Cofidis) then went solo with 8km to go but Mitchelton-Scott and UAE Team Emirates were working hard behind for their sprinters and Lafay was caught on the final climb with 3km to go.

With 1.5km to go, Nils Eekhoff (Team Sunweb) made a gap in the peloton including his leader Michael Matthews, Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott), Sénéchal, Aimé De Gendt (Circus-Wanty Gobert), Alessandro Fedeli (Nippo-Delko Provence) and Simmons.

Sénéchal was on the wheel of Eekhoff who led out the sprint but the French Classics specialist was blocked in as Mezgec kicked early. Matthews stuck to the Slovenian's wheel and flew past his former team-mate to take a comfortable looking win in his second race of the season.

In the women's race it was British success with Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) beating fellow Yorkshire woman, Lizzie Banks (Équipe Paule Ka) to the line in the rain.

Results

Bretagne Classic - Ouest France 2020: Plouay to Plouay (247.5km)

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb, in 6-01-15

2. Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott

3. Florian Sénéchal (Fra) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

4. Aimé De Gendt (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert

5. Alessandro Fedeli (Ita) Nippo-Delko Provence

6. Quinn Simmons (USA) Trek-Segafredo

7. Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team Sunweb

8. Dan McLay (GBr) Arkéa-Samsic

9. Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ

10. Iván García Cortina (Esp) Bahrain-McLaren, all at same time

Michael Matthews was relegated to lead-out rider on stage 11 of the Tour de France as his Sunweb team opted to back Dutchman Cees Bol.

The flat and fast finish in Toulouse prompted the German outfit to back Bol over Tour stage winner Matthews, after the Australian suffered repeat disappointments in the opening week.

Matthews, a former winner of three Tour de France stages and the green jersey, said Sunweb bosses announced on Tuesday’s rest day (July 16) that Bol would be the chosen sprinter on stage 11.

>>> Five talking points from stage 11 of the Tour de France 2019 

Dutchman Bol, 23, is riding his first Grand Tour and doesn’t have the palmarès of his Australian team-mate, but was given a chance as Matthews has struggled to fight for victory.

Speaking after the stage, Matthews said: “It was the team’s idea. on the rest day they came up with the idea and it makes sense

“We thought with a short hectic stage maybe it was good to give me a day off and give Cees a chance. He’s a big guy for a stage like this and it was a faster sprinter’s sort of stage so we decided to give him the opportunity. He’s given me a lot of help in my lead outs this Tour de France so far so I wanted to return the favour.”

The tactic didn’t pay off – after Matthews dropped Bol off with a kilometre left to race, Bol only managed eighth place, two spots ahead of pure climber Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic).

Matthews also opted not to fight for points at the intermediate sprint on the stage, as he pulls out of the battle for the green jersey to target stage victories from a breakaway.

Thanks to his consistent top-five finishes at the Tour de France 2019, Matthews was second to Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the points classification at the start of the day, making him a marked man if he would attempt to break free from the peloton to chase a stage.

The 28-year-old added: “I’m too close in the green jersey points for Sagan to let me go in the breakaway, so in the end we have to either keep fighting for the green and give away stage wins, or go for stage wins and give away the green jersey. It’s a decision we had to make.”

Matthews has consistently found himself well-placed in bunch finishes this Tour, but has only one podium finish after he won the bunch sprint to take second behind Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) on stage three.

>>> Long-awaited Tour de France victory lifts pressure off Caleb Ewan

He puts his struggles in the sprints down to his training, which he says had been tailored to a domestique role to support Tom Dumoulin’s general classification hopes. Dumoulin was forced to skip the Tour due to a persisting knee injury, and Matthews found himself the team’s best hope at a stage victory despite his lack of sprint training.

On whether his temporary demotion to lead-out ride would affect his morale, Matthews said: “I’ll come back more motivated, I think. I showed the team I’m willing to help them on a stage that suits them better than it suits me. That’s what brings a good team spirit up – one of the leaders dropping back and saying ‘okay we’ll ride for you today, you’ve done some really good work for me.’

Michael Matthews has extended his contract with Sunweb after a successful three seasons with the outfit.

Australian Matthews joined the German team in 2017, after switching from home squad Orica-Greenedge, taking stage victory in the Tour de France and winning the coveted points jersey since the switch.

The 28-year-old signed a new three-year deal until 2021 on the eve of the Tour de France, where he is the squad's best hope for stage victory after general classification favourite Tom Dumoulin has been forced to skip the race due to a persisting knee injury.

>>> ‘We’re all ready and hungry’: Luke Rowe looks ahead to Tour de France 2019 as Team Ineos target fifth consecutive victory

Matthews said: “I’m very happy to be with Sunweb for another two years. I have had an incredible two and a half years in the team, with many great memories.

“I think it’s a good environment for me to keep developing and I cannot wait to gather more memories with our big family at Sunweb.”

Matthews has found himself in an awkward spot for the 2019 Tour de France, as he had been preparing himself to support general classification favourite Tom Dumoulin who has been forced to pull out due to injury.

As a versatile sprinter, Matthews now finds himself as the team’s best hope of stage success in France but says his preparation has not been designed around fighting for his own glory.

Sunweb coach Luke Roberts said: “We are pleased to extend the contract with Michael. It was a really successful journey in the past two and a half seasons with some highlights.

“Michael’s work ethic goes very well with the philosophy of the team. He is always very motivated to give everything for the common goals of the team. I am sure that we can celebrate some more successes.”

>>> Mark Cavendish ‘heartbroken’ to miss Tour de France 2019

Matthews, the winner of stages in all three Grand Tours, has been consistent in the toughest races this season, with top-10s in the Tour of Flanders, Brabantse Pijl and Flèche Wallonne, as well as two stage victories in the Volta a Catalunya.

His re-signing comes amid rumours of discontent inside Sunweb, as Dutchman Dumoulin is thought to be unhappy with management after the injury he suffered at the Giro d’Italia.

After pulling out of the Giro on stage five, Dumoulin pushed himself to prepare for the Tour but later announced who would not be racing in France due to the injury.

Rumours suggested Dumoulin had been approached by Team Ineos and Jumbo-Visma, but he later said a transfer was “out of the question.”

Michael Matthews (Sunweb) has said that team-mate Tom Dumoulin's absence from the Tour de France 2019 has left him "totally confused" and that he doesn't "know where to go from here".

While many would assume Dumoulin's inability to conquer a knee injury in time for the Grand Départ from Brussels on July 6 would allow the Australian free-reign to target stage victories and a second green jersey after his points classification win in 2017.

>>> Tom Dumoulin says pulling out of Tour de France 2019 ‘felt like a relief’

However, Matthews has revealed he had spent the first half of 2019 training to be as useful as possible to Dumoulin, who was set to try and go one better than his second place finish in last year's Tour.

Matthews had been training for the climbs and the stage two team time trial, telling Dutch broadcaster NOS: "I’ve been making sure I can climb really well, making sure I can do a really good TTT to support him as best as possible. It’s definitely hard to take in the news."

Despite the 28-year-old admitting that there a number of stages that would suit him, Matthews says he will go to the Tour having done little preparation for any of them: "I haven’t done any sprint training or any training that was preparing myself for my stages, and there are quite a lot of stages that do suit me.

"It’s massively disappointing, obviously. I don’t know what to do now, I’m totally confused. Even the plans to go up to Livigno from here to make sure I was really ready in the mountains to support Tom.

"It’s just a massive disappointment, to be honest, and I don’t know where to go from here."

Matthews also revealed that Sunweb's plans going into 2019 were Dumoulin or nothing, with team manager Iwan Spekenbrink telling the entire roster that they "shouldn’t have any ambitions ourselves – it’s just everything for the yellow."

This put a dent in Matthews' Giro d'Italia 2019 plans, where had hoped to compete for the points classification, but this ambition was ended after it was decided Dumoulin would ride the Giro as well as the Tour. The Dutchman eventually abandoned the Italian Grand Tour on stage five after a crash the previous day which gave him the knee injury that continues to thwart his season.

It has also been announced that Dumoulin will miss the Dutch national championships this week, where he has won the time trial three times, in 2014, 2016 and 2017.

But who will replace Dumoulin at the Tour? Sunweb don't have another Grand Tour contender up their sleeve but do have 2013 Tour stage winner and yellow jersey-wearer Jan Bakelants as a potential option.

Dutch newspaper Nieuwsblad reports that Sunweb are considering four options for the spare spot on the squad, with sprinter Cees Bol, climber Martijn Tusveld and all-rounder Roy Curvers all also being considered.

Bakelants would not be coming into the French Grand Tour fresh, having raced the Giro followed by the Hammer Series and the ZLM Tour, but the Belgian said: "Sometimes the Tour can be better than expected if you don't have the ideal preparation. In 2013 I only went in the final selection."

Michael Matthews out-sprinted Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) to take his first win of 2019 on stage two of the Volta a Catalunya.

The Sunweb rider was patient on the final uphill run to the line, opening his sprint late and taking a clear victory.

After a disappointing 2018, the Australian appears to be returning to his best having finished 12th in both Milan-San Remo and Omloop Het Niewsblad.

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) finished safely in the bunch to hold onto his overall lead, while Chris Froome's general classification hopes ended after he finished 10 minutes down.

How it happened

Stage two presented the first opportunity for the puncheurs, with a flat 166.7km run from Mataró on the coast near Barcelona to Sant Feliu de Guíxols further north.

After the challenging climbs of stage one, day two featured a trio of third category ascents spread throughout the route that weren't expected to cause problems for the fast men.

>>> Julian Alaphilippe knocks Alejandro Valverde off top spot of UCI World Ranking 

The final climb Alt de Romanyà, 5.8km-long at 4.5 per cent, came 30km from the finish with a long descent followed by a few minor hills.

A tight and winding finish awaited the peloton, with a long uphill drag to the line more suited to all-rounders than pure sprinters.

Early in the day a three-man breakaway pulled clear of the peloton, made up of Josef Černy (CCC Team), Jonas Gwisly (Astana) and Marco Minnaard (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).

De Gendt was absent from the move as he worked to defend his lead in the overall classification, having taken 2-48 in a solo stage victory on stage one.

The gap to the breakaway extended to seven minutes in the opening half of the stage, but the peloton were reluctant for a repeat of the first stage and wound the escapees back in.

With 35km to ride, the advantage had tumbled to one minute as Chris Froome (Team Sky) and two Bora-Hansgrohe riders were involved in a crash, with Froome forced to wait for a bike change.

He was able to get back on the bike but quickly fell two minutes behind the peloton and tried to chase back on with a group of five who had also been left behind.

As the breakaway's advantage tumbled, the final climb took its toll with only Černy able to ride on alone to the summit, the gap at 23 seconds with 28km to the line.

The Czech national champion pressed on and pulled the advantage back out to 30 seconds, but was finally caught just inside 25km.

Astana drove the pace at the front causing Froome to drop further back, the gap extending  to 4-2 as it looked like any GC hopes for the four-time Tour winner were over before they began.

>>> Thomas De Gendt on Volta a Catalunya solo win: ‘I didn’t really believe I could do it’ 

The Kazakh team continued riding hard on the front on the long straight roads heading back to the coast, dropping a small group of riders in the process.

Team Sky then hit the front with 10km to ride protect Egan Bernal in the chaos of the bunch sprint.

Natnael Berhane (Cofidis) attempted a last-ditch attempt at 6km, dangling off the front of the peloton but was caught a few hundred meters later.

Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) attacked on a slight including 3km from home, but was kept on a tight leash.

The tight winding final kilometres took the speed out of the peloton as riders spread across the road as they hit the final straight all together.

Mitchelton-Scott opened up their lead-out first, but Matthews sat second wheel on the long uphill drag to the line, finally coming out of cover 100 metres from the line and sprinting clear of Alejandro Valverde to take the win.

Froome eventually crossed the line around 14 minutes down on the front of the race.

Results

Volta a Catalunya stage two: Mataró to Sant Feliu de Guíxols (166.7km)

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb, in 4-09-34

2. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team

3. Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott

4. Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe

5. Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Gobert

6. James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep

7. Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team

8. Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Dimension Data

9. Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe

10. Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates, all at same time

General classification after stage two

1. Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal, in 8-23-50

2. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team, at 2-47

3. Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb, at 2-48

4. Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at same time

5. Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott, in 2-54

6. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, in 2-56

7. Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky, in 2-57

8. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma

9. Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Esp) Cofidis, Solutions Credits, at same time

10. Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team, 2-58

Following on from his victory at the GP de Québec on Friday, Michael Matthews (Sunweb) made it two Canadian wins in two by out-sprinting Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) at the GP de Montréal.

Matthews becomes only the second rider to complete the Canadian double, following his Australian compatriot Simon Gerrans’ success in 2014.

Despite several attacks in the final three laps, the race boiled down to a bunch sprint of a large group.

The sprint was instigated early when Michael Valgren (Astana) attacked out of U-turn heading into the finishing straight. Sonny Colbrelli, as the rider on his wheel, was forced to follow the move, with Oliver Naesen (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Matthews the next three riders in line.

Colbrelli and Matthews both launched their sprints around 200 metres from the line, with the latter gradually closing the gap to the Italian, and just piping him at the line.

How it happened

Britain’s Owain Doull (Sky) was the only non-Canadian member of the day’s six-man break, which also featured: Hugo Houle (Astana), Nigel Ellsay (Rally Cycling), Adam Roberge and Charles-Etienne Chretien (both Canada National Team).

Their gap to the peloton grew to around 5-30 before plateauing, then gradually started to fall at around the halfway point of the race.

After steadying again at around 4-00, the gap plummeted again once Lotto-Soudal upped the pace at the front of the peloton, and stood at only 2-00 at the start of the 14th lap.

Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) was the first rider to attack from the peloton, going clear on the 14th ascent of the Côte de Camillien-Houde. That prompted a response from the peloton, with several counter-attackers attempting to follow the move, including Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida), who used his descending prowess to strike out alone.

Moments after being joined by his Slovenian compatriot Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) with 30km left to ride, Mohoric caught up to the four remaining riders of the day’s break.

While they pushed on, a three-man counter-attack formed behind, consisting of Sep Vanmarcke (EF Education First-Drapac), Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data), and managed to bridge the gap just after the start of the penultimate lap.

On the penultimate climb of Côte de Camillien-Houde, Mohoric, Polanc and Mühlberger went clear from the rest, and held a lead of 25 seconds over a Sunweb-led peloton at the summit.

The gap remained constant for several kilometres, until an acceleration from Marc Soler (Movistar) 19km from the line halved the deficit. A brief let-up in the pace followed upon Soler’s capture, until Sunweb - this time with assistance from BMC - resumed control.

The peloton had the three-man break in its sight at the bell, and the catch was made on the final ascent of Camillien-Houde. At this point Britain’s James Knox (Quick-Step Floors) attacked, and was soon joined by Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) just before the summit, and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) just after it.

The trio lasted a few kilometres out in front, but were caught with just over 6km to go as Bahrain-Merida took over leadership duties at the head of the peloton.

A huge turn from Enrico Gasparotto (Bahrain-Merida) kept under control a flurry of late digs, including a dangerous-looking move from young Frenchman Benoit Cosnefroy (Ag2r La Mondiale) 1.5km from the line.

A tussle for the final U-turn ensued, from which Valgren made the final attack of the race before the sprinters had their way.

Result

Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal 2018 (195.2km)

1 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb, in 5-19-27

2 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida

3 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team

4 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale

5 Timo Roosen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

6 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates

7 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates

8 Michael Valgren (Den) Astana Pro Team

9 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe

10 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data, all same time

Michael Matthews (Sunweb) won the 2018 GP de Québec in a sprint finish.

The Australian out-sprinted Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) - who finished second in the race for the third year running - and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), to seal his third win of the season.

Although the race culminated in its usual big bunch finish, Peter Kennaugh (Bora-Hansgrohe) came close to upsetting the sprinters with an attack on the third to last lap. He retained a gap under the flamme rouge, but the uphill finish proved his undoing and he was caught with just 300 metres to go.

In the sprint, Enrico Gasparotto (Bahrain-Merida) went early, allowing Matthews - who was about to run out of wheels to follow - to swing over and latch onto his slipstream.

When the Italian exhausted his resources, Matthews, Van Avermaet and Timo Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo) started their sprints neck and neck, before Matthews accelerated away for victory.

How it happened

A breakaway group of five was established at the start of the day, consisting of Nicolas Dougall (Dimension Data), Guy Sagiv (Israel Cycling Academy), Rob Britton (Rally Cycling), Alex Cataford and Bruno Langlois (both Team Canada).

The break built a maximum lead of in excess of over six minutes over a peloton lead mostly by BMC’s Kilian Frankiny, but began to come down when other teams started to pull at the front.

The race did not begin with a full set of riders, with Magnus Cort (Astana) and Lars Bak (Lotto-Soudal) both failing to make the start line due to illness, and more abandoned after some nasty crashes.

At one point a dog escaped its leash and ran amok in the peloton, causing a crash that forced Nuno Matos (Movistar) to exit the race.

Later, with around 55km, another four riders went down on a tight corner, including Ruben Plaza (Israel Cycling Academy), who abandoned, and last year’s sixth-place finisher Tom Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data), who managed to make it back to the peloton after 10km of chasing.

The most significant increase in pace came courtesy of Astana, who amassed at the front on the 13th lap, by the end of which the gap was down to just 1-16.

Their work eventually set up an attack from Jakob Fuglsang on the Côte de la Montagne, 29km from the finish.

Peter Kennaugh (Bora-Hansgrohe) had more success with his counter-attack on the subsequent descent, gaining a gap and picking off the remains of the splintered break of the day as he began the penultimate lap.

Britton and Langlois were the last two survivors, and were caught by Kennaugh with 22km to go. By that point the peloton were just 20 seconds behind, with other riders in between also attempting to bridge up to the leading trio.

The fresher Kennaugh soon dropped the other two riders five kilometres later, but saw his gap come down to just 12 seconds following an attack from Kenny Elissonde (Sky) in the peloton.

Kennaugh nevertheless stuck it at, and by the start of the last lap remained around 20 seconds ahead of the peloton, and a little less over a chasing trio that had been established consisting of Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Robert Carpenter (Rally Cycling) and Matthias Frank (Ag2r La Mondiale).

That trio was joined by another three riders with 10km to go: Nathan Brown (EF Education First-Drapac), Nathan Earle (Israel Cycling Academy) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ).

As a group of six they failed to work well together, however, and were swept up by the peloton 6.5km from the line.

Kennaugh remained out in front, but work from Trek-Segafredo, UAE Emirates and Dimension Data brought him within touching distance.

Still the Manxman hung on, however, somehow resisting the charging peloton over the final climb.

It was only with 300 metres to go that he was at last caught, paving the way for the bunch sprint won by Matthews.

Results

Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec 2018 (201.6km)

1 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb

2 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team

3 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo

4 Timo Roosen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

5 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe

6 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors

7 Arthur Vichot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ

8 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin

9 Michael Valgren (Den) Astana Pro Team

10 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ

Team Sunweb's hopes of repeating their success from the 2017 Tour de France suffered a major blow after Michael Matthews was forced to abandon prior to the start of stage five.

Matthews won the green jersey last year and had looked in decent form as he finished seventh on the opening stage before leading the team across the line as they took fifth place in the team time trial on stage three.

The Australian rider would have been among the favourites to take victories on stages five and six, with Wednesday's stage featuring a lumpy parcours ahead of a technical finish in Quimper, before Thursday sees an uphill finish on the Mûr de Bretagne.

>>> Tiesj Benoot abandons Tour de France after dislocating shoulder in stage four pile-up

However Matthews was ill overnight, waking up vomiting and with a fever, and struggling to eat ahead of the stage, with the team taking the decision to pull him out of the race.

Sports director Luke Roberts explained the disappointment for Matthews in having to abandon the race, and how he would also be missed by the team in supporting Tom Dumoulin's general classification ambitions.

However he also said how the team had acted quickly on Matthews's illness, isolating him from his team-mates to prevent the illness from spreading through the team.

Watch: Tour de France stage four highlights

"We're very disappointed and today would have been a highlight for him. It's a stage that's very well suited to him and he could have got a good result," Roberts said ahead of the start of stage five.

"Tomorrow would also have been suited to him and he also brings a lot to the team in regards to helping Dumoulin target the general classification. He will be a big loss."

"No other riders have shown any symptoms. Michael has been isolated all morning so in the case it is a virus, as we expect it is, we hope that we have caught it early enough that other riders will not be affected.

>>> Who's out of the Tour de France after stage four?

Matthews also spoke of his disappointment of having to abandon the race, but said that it would have been impossible to continue with his illness.

"I'm really disappointed to not start this morning. I've been really ill this morning and tried all I could to make it to the start line, but feeling like this, it's simply not possible," Matthews explained. "I will now go home to recover and will continue cheering for the guys from there.

Michael Matthews has navigated a mental minefield of a spring Classics campaign to stamp his first victory of the season on only 14 days of racing.

Robbed form caught-up with dogged determination in Matthews’ Tour de Romandie prologue win on Tuesday, the drive behind which should put marquee rivals on notice.

>>> Giro d’Italia start list: provisional list of riders revealed for 2018 race

Romandie (and Eschborn-Frankfurt next week) represents the end of a racing block that the 27-year-old ultimately started disadvantaged.

Speaking before Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Matthews was mentally exhausted but not resigned having persevered through Milan-San Remo, over the cobbles and the Ardennes on the back of injury and illness.

“I’m in this mindset where it’s all or nothing at the moment. I am trying to salvage what I can out of the start of the season,” Matthews said.

“In the end if you don’t have the proper legs to be able to deliver a result you’re better off trying to gain experience again and get as much out of it as you can.”

The Australian suffered a fractured shoulder on season debut at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in February, and was sick twice between that and Milan-San Remo in March.

Matthews on paper actually had one of his best spring campaigns ever — a seventh at San Remo an improvement on 12th in 2017, as was a fifth place at Flèche Wallonne, which he came 67th in last season.

However, the suggestion was mere consolation to the versatile sprinter, who commenced pre-season training in November, and at the beginning of the year believed he could win a major one-day title this spring.

“My pre-season went really well, it was actually going almost too good. All my numbers were a fair few percentage higher than they were last year, with a lower body weight,” he said.

“That’s probably the hardest part about it all. I put so much time and effort into the pre-season and then crashed and broke my shoulder in the first race of the year. But the team has been super supportive, trying to keep my head on my shoulders and do everything they can to keep me focused and not think of the negatives – just think of the positives. That’s helped me to be able to deliver some sort of consistent results.”

Matthews, who became a first-time father recently, has come into his own at German squad Sunweb, which he joined last year before winning the green jersey at the Tour de France.

Sunweb, renowned for developing talent, has given him outright leadership opportunities not previously afforded at other stables.

Matthews in turn has opened his inner-circle of confidants from wife, Kat, and long-time coach, Brian Stephens, who is now at the outfit, to include and incorporate other general team staff and their suggestions.

“After I do Romandie and Frankfurt I’m looking forward to a bit of a break to be truly honest. I’ve been training full gas since the start of November and there’s been no time to relax my head,” he said.

“It’s been a crash, recover, get sick, try and recover roller-coaster of a spring for me. I’m looking forward to closing it up after Frankfurt and then focusing on Suisse and the Tour de France,” he said.

Romandie is set to be a satisfying if not reviving part of that outro.

Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) claimed the victory in the opening prologue time trial of the 2018 Tour de Romandie in Switzerland on Tuesday.

The Australian cruised around the short, twisting 4.02-kilometre route featuring some cobbled roads around Fribourg in a time of five minutes and 33 seconds to take the early race lead.

In a post-race interview, Matthews said that he was unsure of his form after Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he finished 63rd. However, he put in a perfectly-paced performance to net the victory in Switzerland.

"I gave it my best and it was enough to get the win," said Matthews.

"It was a really beautiful course. In the recon I thought it was a maybe a little bit sketchy, but it was fine – I had a lot of fun out there today."

Matthews was the only rider to better early stage leader Tom Bohli (BMC Racing), and then only by a single second.

Pre-stage favourite Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) – fresh from his recent overall victory in the Tour of the Basque Country – came home in third, on the same time as Bohli.

British overall hope Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) has started the race strongly, placing sixth and five seconds adrift of Matthews.

Fellow British rider Alex Dowsett (Katusha-Alpecin) finished second in the equivalent – albeit flatter – stage last year, but this time around was 26th.

Defending champion Richie Porte (BMC Racing) was last man off out of the 133 starters, finishing outside the top 10 in 18th.

One rider who did not make the start line was Trek-Segafredo's Matthias Brändle, who crashed on the course during his warm-up and broke his collarbone.

The hilly, twisting nature of the course meant that around half of the riders elected to use road bikes rather than time trial bikes. The final climb in particular was the undoing of several riders after such an intense burst of effort.

The 2018 Tour de Romandie continues on Wednesday with stage one, starting in Fribourg and ending in Delémont 166.6km later. It's a lumpy stage featuring four classified climbs, and one that should suit Matthews.

>>> Tour de Romandie 2018 live TV guide

Result

Tour de Romandie 2018, prologue: Fribourg to Fribourg, 4.02km

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb, in 5-33

2. Tom Bohli (Sui) BMC Racing, at 1 sec

3. Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 1 sec

4. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team, at 1 sec

5. Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Soudal, at 5 secs

6. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, at 5 secs

7. William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac, at 6 secs

8. Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky, at 6 secs

9. Pierre Latour (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 6 secs

10. Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida, at 9 secs

General classification after prologue

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb

2. Tom Bohli (Sui) BMC Racing, at 1 sec

3. Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 1 sec

4. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, at 1 sec

5. Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, at 5 secs

6. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, at 5 secs

7. William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac, at 6 secs

8. Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky, at 6 secs

9. Pierre Latour (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 6 secs

10. Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida, at 9 secs

Freshly-crowned Tour de France green jersey winner Michael Matthews will take part in the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic road race on Sunday, July 30.

Double Tour stage winner Matthews will lead Team Sunweb at the annual event that takes in a 200km route based on the road race from the 2012 London Olympic Games.

“Prudential RideLondon is a race that I am looking forward to, the crowds are always incredible which makes for a great racing atmosphere," said Australian Matthews.

“There's a lot going on with various other events on the same day so there's always a great turn out and that extra bit of encouragement at the side of the road makes all the difference."

Matthews will join a start list that boasts fellow Tour riders André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal), Ben Swift (UAE Team Emirates) and Mathew Hayman (Orica-Scott), plus Elia Viviani (Team Sky), Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe), Sep Vanmarcke (Cannondale-Drapac) and 2015 RideLondon winner Jempy Drucker (BMC).

Last year's winner, Tom Boonen, will be absent as he retired from professional cycling in the spring.

>>> RideLondon-Surrey Classic: Latest news, route info and more

Race director Mick Bennett commented: "We have assembled the strongest ever field for this year’s Classic which reflects the race’s new status in the UCI WorldTour.

"Everyone who has been enthralled by the racing at the Tour de France over the past three weeks now has the opportunity to see the very same teams light up the streets of London and Surrey.

“Team Sky will be coming back to Britain still on a high after winning yet another Tour de France and with Michael Matthews racing it means, for the  first time ever, the Classic will have the Tour’s Green Jersey winner among its starters."

Watch: Highlights of stage 21 of the 2017 Tour de France

The RideLondon-Surrey Classic was awarded WorldTour status by the sport's governing body, the UCI, for 2017, making it Britain's first WorldTour-level event. It is also being billed as the 'richest one-day race' in the world. Both should be factors that ensure a world-class list of starters.

The full official start list is due to be released by the end of the week.

The 22 teams will taking part in the 2017 event are: Ag2r La Mondiale, BMC Racing Team, Bora-Hansgrohe, Cannondale-Drapac, Lotto-Soudal, Orica-Scott, Quick-Step Floors, Dimension Data, Team Katusha-Alpecin, LottoNL-Jumbo, Team Sky, Team Sunweb, Trek-Segafredo, UAE Team Emirates, Wanty-Groupe Gobert, Androni-Sidermec-Bottechia, Aqua Blue Sport, Caja Rural-Seguros, CCC Sprandi-Polkowice, Israel Cycling Academy, Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise and Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia.

John Degenkolb has said that he and Michael Matthews have spoken since their altercation at the end of stage 16 of the Tour de France.

After the finish in Romans-sur-Isère, which Matthews (Team Sunweb) won by a wheel's length, TV footage caught Degenkolb riding alongside Matthews and appearing to strike him on the back of the head and left ear.

It is assumed that Degenkolb was upset about Matthews' sprint, and the post-race incident angered the Australian who said "I don’t think it’s very sportsmanlike.”

At the finish of stage 17, outside his team's hotel, Degenkolb told Cycling Weekly: "We spoke this morning."

Questioned on what his view was on the situation, the Trek-Segafredo rider refused to go into detail, saying: "Yesterday is yesterday and today is another day."

The 2015 Paris-Roubaix winner was reluctant to speak about the spat. Asked what he and Matthews spoke about in their exchange, he replied: "I think we have spoken already enough about it. The situation is over. It's a cleared up situation."

Degenkolb is likely to have two further chances of beating Matthews before the Tour finishes.

Friday's stage to Salon-de-Provence should end in a sprint, while Sunday's stage in Paris is expected to be contested by the remaining sprinters, including green jersey incumbent Matthews, Degenkolb and André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal).

Primoz Roglic wins in style

Taking his maiden Tour de France stage win, Slovenian rider Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) did it in style with a well timed attack that saw him descend from the peak of the Galibier to victory alone.

As well as hunting for the last KOM points of the day, Roglic attacked to take the maximum points but was able to find himself alone and with 1-30 to play with over 27km to the finish.

With the sweeping bends laid out in front of him, Roglic held every line perfectly with his lead never dipping below 1-15.

Never looking in doubt, the former ski jumper arrived onto the flat before the flamme rouge and time trialled himself to Tour de France glory.

Roglic certainly opened a few eyes with a stage win with a fine display of climbing, adding a second Grand Tour stage win to the victory he took in the Giro d'Italia in 2016.

Marcel Kittel breaks

Marcel Kittel followed in the footsteps of Tom Boonen and Alessandro Petacchi and withdrew from the Tour with the green jersey on his back after crashing in the first 20km of the race.

The German sprinter was up against it after he'd struggled for the past couple of days on the categorised climbs.

Green jersey rival, Michael Matthews, was the opposing image, showing determination to fight back against Kittel. His determination paid off having successfully reduced the points competition to just nine points before the German abandoned.

Kittel had planned to be up the road so he could at least contend with Matthews but the early crash caused the Quick-Step rider to rethink his place. After riding for nearly half the stage Kittel conceded defeat to Matthews and called it a race.

Watch: Tour de France 2017 stage 17 highlights

Fabio Aru falters as Rigoberto Uran edges into second

On a day when he would've wanted to be in the thick of things, Fabio Aru took a step back in his fight for the yellow jersey.

The Italian champion had been in the fight for most of the day but as the ride edged closer to the summit of the Galibier, Aru started to suffer.

Repeated attacks from Dan Martin saw Aru falter and drop off before regaining contact. Fighting to get back on time and time again, there was a possibility that Aru could potentially hold on but as the group prepared to climb over the top, he was left behind.

Teaming up with the man who had attacked him on the previous climb, and Alberto Contador, Aru struggled in vain as he fought to reel in the rest of the GC group.

Down the road Chris Froome, Romain Bardet and Rigoberto Uran drove the pace to try and gain on Primoz Roglic. Despite failing in that endeavour, Uran powered through to take six bonus seconds that saw him move into second place while Froome took four to consolidate his lead.

Alberto Contador gave it one last roll of the dice

In true Alberto Contador fashion, the Spaniard gave it his all as he threw his hat into the ring for the day's glory.

122km out Contador attacked trying to bridge a group that was nearly six minutes ahead.

Unperturbed, the Trek-Segafredo rider gave it his all and in the process dropped Nairo Quintana (Movistar) leaving just himself to power up the Croix de Fer.

El Pistolero's confidence was repaid as he found himself in the front group with the race heading up the Col du Télégraph and onwards to the Col du Galibier.

The day's eventual winner had other ideas though as Roglic broke from the group. Contador tried to follow and did an incredible job but by the peak he was caught by a rapid yellow jersey group and found himself fighting to get back on.

In what could be his last Tour de France, Contador showed that he's still prepared to lose it all in order to win it.

Warren Barguil can't relax just yet

Having hoped to wrap up the polka dot jersey competition today, Warren Barguil seemed a shoe in for the points on offer.

However, the Tour de France had other ideas with a crash 20km into the day's racing.

Barguil had avoided being seriously hurt but the hold up meant that he missed out on the day's early break for points.

With De Gendt and Roglic both breathing down his neck it was important for the Frenchman to get back on.

Thankfully, with Matthews up the road and a late fight back to take points on the Galibier, Barguil could focus on finishing off the competition on stage 18.

Roglic wanted to spoil the fun though by taking maximum points on the day's final climb and with only 49 points now separating the two, the 58 points on offer in the final mountain stage on Thursday will be more closely fought than Barguil would've liked.

Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) has registered his discontent after a spat with Tour de France stage 16 runner up John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) after the finish in Romans-sur-Isère.

A video shortly after the finish line, where the Australian won ahead of Degenkolb by a wheel's length, shows the incident, which will not be digested well at a Tour de France that has already saw Peter Sagan disqualified for irregular sprinting.

The footage shows Degenkolb ride up from behind on the right and appear to strike Matthews on the back of the head and left ear.

"I was waiting for the result and he grabbed me on the way past," Matthews said. "The officials saw it. We'll see what the officials will do about it. I don't think it's very sportsmanlike."

In the jury post-stage press release, Degenkolb failed to appear with other violations, including four riders fined 100 Swiss Francs for sticky bottles.

The UCI jury, ever-vigilant after the stage four Sagan incident, could still decide on the newly emerged footage. In 2010, when Carlos Barredo attacked Rui Costa after the finish, the jury fined them 400 Swiss Francs each, with Barredo also receiving a two month ban at the start of the 2011 season.

>>> Five talking points from stage 16 of the Tour de France

Trek-Segafredo lodged a complained against Matthews's sprint, saying that the Australian nudged the German sprinter in the final metres of Tuesday's stage, a charge that Matthews rejected.

"From my perspective, I don't think I did anything wrong. I didn't change my line, I sprinted in a straight line," Matthews responded.

"I'm not sure what was wrong with Degenkolb, but that's up to him."

Michael Matthews (Sunweb), winner of the 16th stage of the Tour de France in Romans-sur-Isère, promises a green jersey fight all the way to Paris with current leader Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors).

Matthews won the windy stage on Tuesday and before the rest day, stage 14. He trails the green jersey leader by 29 points, 344 to Kittel's 373.

>>> Five talking points from stage 16 of the Tour de France

"It's been one guy [Peter Sagan] dominating for the last years," Matthews said, "so to see a fight to Paris for the green jersey will be special."

Sagan won the points competition the last five years in a row, from 2012 to 2016. The jury made the controversial move to disqualify him after a stage four incident with Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), who had to abandon with a fractured shoulder blade.

Kittel appeared to be in control with Sagan and then Arnaud Démare (FDJ) leaving the race. He won five stages and moved into a strong lead. Even after his fifth, he warned that the green jersey was not a done deal.

"Unfortunately, the Tour de France is three weeks long and not only two," Kittel said.

"I was probably right [after my fifth win] to say it'd be settled on the Champs-Élysées."

Two chances remain for sprint finishes, one in Marseille and one in Paris. German Kittel is the fastest sprinter of the two, but Australian Matthews the more versatile. He escaped the other day to pick up points and on stage 16, tried to do the same.

Once he realised Kittel was dropped, he ordered his Sunweb team to pull hard to possibly force him to be time cut or to at least ensure he would be without his top rival at the finish.

"When Kittel was dropped, I went to the front, the guys just smiled and were ready to work for me," Matthews said.

"We kept up the pressure and kept pulling full, so if he's out of the race, it's better for me. I took the intermediate and we got the final points as well. I got 50 points today

"It was really an amazing day, we had a great plan in the bus, but this worked out 10 times better than planned."

At one point, the data showed that Sunweb worked 61.1 per cent at the front. The next best team, Dimension Data for Edvald Boasson Hagen, worked 13.5 per cent.

Kittel can only defend his green jersey by winning and having his team make sure Matthews fails to win the intermediate sprints in the coming two mountain days.

"The climb at the start today was something that suited him better, so what can I do about it? I won't think about the lost points now," Kittel added.

"I can't say I'm happy about losing all the points today, but there's nothing to do. We also tried to keep Dan Martin in contention today [he slipped from fifth to seventh], but it wasn't our day. We have to move on and think about out next chances."

Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) won his second stage of the 2017 Tour de France to cap a perfect performance by his team on a day where echelons tore the race to pieces.

Team Sunweb worked hard from the very start of the 165km stage from Le Puy en Velay to Romans sur Isère, dropping the green jersey of Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) on a third category climb after less than 20km.

The German team then worked tirelessly on the front of the bunch as they made sure that Kittel was out of contention for the stage, allowing Matthews to pick up maximum points at the intermediate sprint and be in with a shout for the stage win.

However with high winds whipping across the route for much of the day, there would also be an opportunity for the teams of the GC contenders to try and force a split, and with 16km to go Team Sky did exactly that.

With four riders in front of the yellow jersey of Chris Froome, the British team accelerated to cause panic in the group behind.

The results weren't as spectacular as stage 11 of the 2016 race where Froome went off the front with Peter Sagan, but the move at least distanced Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors), who ended up losing 48 seconds to the rest of the GC contenders, slipping from fifth to seventh overall.

>>> Five talking points from stage 16 of the Tour de France

In the front group Sunweb continued to work hard, shutting down a late attack by Daniele Bennati (Movstar) before putting Matthews in a perfect position in the wheel of Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) with 300m remaining.

The Belgian opened his sprint from a long way out, but did not have the power to hold off Matthews, who came around the outside and held off the late charges of Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) to win his second stage of the race.

How it happened

The action kicked off the moment Christian Prudhomme dropped the flag for the start of the race with a flurry of attacks in the opening kilometres. None of the initial moves stuck, but as the road started to ramp up on the approach to the third category Côte de Boussoulet a few riders started to slip off the front.

Thomas Degand (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), and Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) were the first to establish a few seconds advantage, before being quickly joined by British champion Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) and Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing).

Those five riders held a slender advantage of the peloton, but the official start of the 4.5km saw a number of counter-attacks off the front of the peloton to swell the breakaway to around 25 riders. However one of those riders was Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) who covered a move by Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb), meaning Team Sky moved to the front of the peloton to bring the group back.

However Matthews was clearly in good shape, and was quickly on the attack again to join another large group which had managed to slip off the front, the Australian going on the search for green jersey points as Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) was one of a number of riders to be dropped from the peloton.

By the top of the climb a five rider group was at the front of the race: De Gendt, Chavanel, Degand, Daryl Impey (Orica-Scott) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), who held a slender advantage over the peloton which had caught the Matthews group.

The end of the climb did not see any slackening of the pace as Team Sunweb moved to the front of the peloton to continue to set a high pace, trying to put more time into the Kittel group which crested the climb 25 seconds in arrears.

>>> Matthews and Kittel ready for green jersey battle to come down to fight on the Champs-Élyées

The fast pace also meant that the breakaway was soon caught, with Sunweb working hard to continue to distance Kittel, whose group steadily lost more ground, the green jersey not appearing to be enjoying the stage's searing pace on the lumpy roads.

By the team the front of the race reached the intermediate sprint with 43.5km remaining, Kittel's group was more than five minutes in arrears, allowing Matthews to pick up maximum point largely unopposed.

With 35km to go and the wind blowing across the road from right to left Trek-Segafredo became the first team to attempt to forced split, Koen De Kort hoping to catch out Team Sky as Michal Kwiatkowski rifled through a feed bag.

>>> Dave Brailsford: Team Sky have an advantage in the Alps, but Tour could be decided on the Champs-Élysées

The move wasn't successful, but it made for a nervous few kilometres as the GC contenders fought for position at the front of the bunch.

After a long section into a headwind, the nerves really started to jangle with 18km remaining as the riders turned left into a section of road whipped by crosswinds. Sky went to the front and with 16km to go the men in white hit the front and really raised the pace.

The results weren't dramatic, but a group of around 25 riders were able to move off the front, with Dan Martin caught on the wrong side of the split.

With Martin, fifth on GC coming into the stage, caught out, all of the other GC contenders were eager to work on the front, Froome, Aru, Yates, and Bardet all doing their turns to drive the pace.

>>> Dan Martin's hopes of winning Tour de France 'probably over' after losing time in crosswinds

At nine kilometres remaining the race turned left into a tailwind, making for a high speed run towards the finish.

However the high speed was not enough to put of Daniele Bennati (Movistar) who attacked with two kilometres remaining, forcing Sunweb, working for Matthews, and Dimension Data, working for Boasson Hagen to take up the chase.

For a moment Bennati was able to enjoy a decent gap, but the Italian was caught with 800m to go as Greg Van Avermaet moved to the front to lead out the sprint.

>>> MIchael Matthews unhappy after being 'grabbed' by John Degenkolb in post-race spat (video)

However the Belgian had gone to early, and as the finish line came into sight he was overhauled by Matthews, who swung wide to the right of the road and held off John Degenkolb and a fast approaching Edvald Boasson Hagen to give his team their third stage win of the 2017 Tour de France.

The stage victory, together with his win in the intermediate sprint, moved Matthews up to 344 points in the race for the green jersey, just 29 points behind Marcel Kittel with five flat stages remaining.

Results

Tour de France 2017, stage 16: Le Puy en Velay to Romans sur Isère, 165km

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb, in 3-38-15

2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data

3. John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo

4. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing

5. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis

6. Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-Scott

7. Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal

8. Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal

9. Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe

10. Romain Hardy (Fra) Fortuneo-Oscaro, all at same time

General classification after stage 16

1. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky, in 68-18-36

2. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana, at 18 secs

3. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 23 secs

4. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac, at 29 secs

5. Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, at 1-17

6. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott, at 2-02

7. Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors, at 2-03

8. Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates, at 6-00

9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing, at 6-05

10. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, at 6-16

Australian Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb), winner of stage 14 of the Tour de France to Rodez on Saturday, says that his victory was made harder by being touted as the favourite coming into the stage.

Matthews blasted ahead of Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) to win the violent 500-metre uphill kick.

>>> Chris Froome sensationally retakes Tour de France race lead as Matthews wins stage 14

"I think with being clear favourite it makes it difficult because everyone has probably been talking about you leading to the stage because everyone's eyes are on you," Matthews said.

"Not that they follow in the final, but try and get in front of you and make it harder for you to win. Luckily, I had some legs left to zip around to the front and get back in third wheel and do my sprint properly."

Matthews, 26, won a stage of last year's race while at Orica-BikeExchange, before switching to to Sunweb this winter. He had some pressure taken off him with team-mate Warren Barguil's win in Foix 24 hours ago, but was still a marked man.

Watch: Tour de France stage 14 highlights

He and Greg Van Avermaet were two stand out favourites for the uphill finish, similar to the former Amstel Gold Race Cauberg conclusion. They both knew the arrival, with Van Avermaet having won ahead of Peter Sagan on the same finish in 2015.

"We discussed with BMC that we both had the same goal. In the end, we just decided to work together," he added. "We said to each other we would stick together in the final and hopefully work together and stick to the front."

"No one else were going to help me and Van Avermaet because were he favourites today"

>>> Chris Froome: 'I never dreamt I'd take 24 seconds out of Aru'

They brought back the escape in the last five kilometres. The speeds and pressure grew with the classification men like Chris Froome, who regained the yellow jersey today, near the front with their team.

"We knew we had a good chance today. We put all the eggs in the basket today," he said.

"It was getting a little hectic there but I had Nikias Arndt to support me. Impressive to have a guy to support me in that final, no one else had team-mate."

>>> Five talking points from stgae 14 of the Tour de France

Matthews rode the stage in 2015, but at that point he did not figure due to rib fractures and could only manage 17th.

"Using that knowledge I had from 2015. I wasn't able to test it properly with four broken ribs, but it was nice to do for 'recon' for this year."

Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) powered his way to a stage three victory at the Tour de France despite one of his feet unclipping from the pedals as he launched his sprint to the line.

A relatively straightforward day ended in a high stakes shoot-out that even saw Richie Porte (BMC) pulling for team-mate Greg Van Avermaet (BMC).

Sagan had timed his move well coming to the front of the bunch with just 200m to go, however a mechanical saw his right foot come free from his pedals. The world champion had was able clip back in quickly enough though and push on.

It was a close affair in the end with Team Sunweb's Michael Matthews just half a bike's length behind as the pair crossed the line.

Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) finished third and gained valuable bonus seconds on his yellow jersey rivals.

As the race approached the tough climb towards the finish, Bora-Hansgrohe and BMC pushed the pace hoping to the get their riders into position but as the roads started to file down in width, it soon became clear that the finish would be chaotic.

With Richie Porte leading out Olympic champ Van Avermaet, and Peter Sagan seemingly stuck behind a bunch of rivals, it wasn't clear who was going to win.

However, Sagan's superb bike riding soon saw him out in front of everyone, looking back.

Disaster struck soon after when he started his sprint and his right foot unclipped. The drama added to what should've been a simple win for the Slovakian but Sagan remained calm and held on even as Michael Matthews launched an almost perfect counter attack.

Despite winning, Sagan didn't take the green jersey which remained with Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors).

Team Sky kept the pressure on the general classification as they ended the day with a one-two with Geraint Thomas still in yellow and Chris Froome up to second after a solid uphill sprint effort.

How it happened

An early breakaway saw six riders force a gap after only 13km in to the stage.

Consisting of Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal), Romain Hardy (Fortuneo-Oscaro), Nathan Brown (Cannondale-Drapac), Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Romain Sicard (Direct Energie), the breakaway was always going to find it hard to stay away after forming so early on.

Brown was the first the across the first categorised climb of the day as his breakaway companions looked to undo his team-mate Taylor Phinney’s work from the day prior and rid him of the polka dot jersey.

Building their lead to just under two minutes, the group worked well with a good mix of experience and youth in the shape of Adam Hansen, who is riding his 18th consecutive Grand Tour in seven years, and Nils Politt who is racing his debut Grand Tour.

The day’s stage saw the peloton pass through three countries as they departed from Verviers in Belgium before heading through Luxembourg before finishing 212.5km later in Longwy, France.

Politt took the day’s intermediate sprint as Mark Cavendish continued on the road to recovery sprinting ahead of his rivals as he took the majority of the points that were left for the peloton 1-50 later.

As the bunch decided to up the pace slightly, Politt was active once more beating Backaert to the day’s second KOM.

Not long after, Politt and fellow KOM challenger, Brown, found themselves fighting to get away in their hunt for the polka dot jersey as they looked to take the following five points that were on offer.

Building a gap of 2-52 against the peloton and 30 against the original breakaway group, Politt and Brown found themselves chatting about that mountains classification, complete with a few cat and mouse tactics thrown in.

Fearing Politt’s sprinting prowess, Brown found himself push on and dropping the German in the closing kilometers towards the day’s third KOM.

Brown's efforts found himself sitting pretty in the virtual polka dot jersey and nearly four minutes ahead of the peloton with 90km to go.

Chris Froome and the rest of the GC contenders spent the majority of the day within the safety of the peloton as team-mate Geraint Thomas held on to the race lead in what was a straightforward day.

Dropping back into the original breakaway group, both Brown and Politt turned their attention to making it to the next climb in one piece as the gap had dropped from 3-57 to 2-33.

As the race crept on with just under 70km to go, the breakaway found their lead starting to drop again with a slender lead of 1-24 all that was between them and the chasing peloton.

It wasn’t long before the cracks in the breakaway began to show as the pair started to splinter. Their lead dropped to just 1-05 with 62km to go as the potential puncheur stage winners decided to get their teams into the shape before the last two categorised climbs of the day.

As the race ticked down to 59km to go, Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) found himself working with Lilian Calméjane (Direct Energie) and Pierre-Louis Périchon (Fortuneo) to try and bridge the gap to the front of the race.

As the road started to rise once more, the riders ahead saw their lead drop to 46 seconds as they started to lose their grip on the stage.

De Gendt, who had won a stage at the Critérium du Dauphiné and held the yellow jersey thanks to his breakaway skills, found himself into position for a potential stage win.

Just 15km later De Gendt and his two fellow counter attackers pushed on causing concern to the stage hopefuls in the peloton.

At the other end of the race Romain Bardet (AG2R) found himself chasing the peloton after coming off his bike. With 34km to go, the Frenchman had to be ushered back into the bunch but after suffering his second crash in as many days, he didn’t look confident.

As the race entered France the peloton found Sagan and Van Avermaet organise their teams to the front.

The peloton still sat 1-30 behind the foursome up the road with 28km to go but De Gendt and co seemed to be fresh after spending a lot of the day in the peloton.

However, that freshness soon faltered as the group found themselves battling themselves headwind to as they made it to within just 20km of the finish line.

The group soon splintered with Calmejane on his own at the front, holding a mere minute lead against the rapidly hastening peloton.

A surprise win wasn’t to be as the young Frenchman was swallowed up with just 10km to go.

As the peloton approached the final climb and home stretch of the day, the front of the peloton became a frenzy of jockeying for position.

Moving to the front with just 200m to Sagan found one of his feet unclipped causing his rivals to gain valuable seconds on him but in true world champion style he clipped back and powered his way to the victory.

The Tour de France continues with stage four on Tuesday, a 207.5km flat stage from Mondorf les Bains – Vittel.

Results

Tour de France 2017 stage three, Verviers - Longwy (212.5km)

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 5-07-19

2 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb, at the same time

3 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors, st

4 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team, st

5 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac, at 2 seconds

6 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ

7 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team

8 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky

9 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky

10 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, all at the same time

General classification after stage three

1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, in 10-00-31

2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky, at 12 seconds

3 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb, at same time

4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 13s

5 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data, at 16s

6 Pierre Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, at 25s

7 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors, at 30s

8 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky, at 32s

9 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal, st

10 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb, at 34s

Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) won stage three of the Tour de Suisse, out-sprinting Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) from a reduced peloton in Bern.

The Australian rider remained ensconced towards the front of a diminishing bunch during a messy uphill final kilometre, biding his time to jump clear with 150m to go.

Sagan and Degenkolb were locked in behind Matthews, but were unable to come around him as they knocked shoulders behind.

The victory was also enough for Matthews to move himself into the yellow jersey as erstwhile leader Stefan Küng (BMC Racing) was dropped in the final kilometres.

How it happened

The two breakaway riders of Lasse Norman Hansen (Aqua Blue Sport) and Elmar Reinders (Roompot-Nederlanse Loterij) escaped from the gun at the start of the 159.3km stage from Menziken to the Swiss capital of Bern.

That duo quickly built a substantial lead of more than eight minutes over a relaxed peloton that seemed content to let them enjoy a substantial lead.

Going into the final 60km at the gap was down to less than five minutes and falling steadily, but the chase stalled as Astana leader Miguel Angel Lopez crashed.

The peloton seemed to ease up a little to allow Lopez to regain contact with a number of riders also taking the opportunity for a natural break, allowing a number of kilometres to pass without the gap being reduced.

Hansen clearly saw an opportunity here, and with 45km to go really started to apply the pressure at the front of the race, ramping up the pace and eventually dropping Reinders with 25km to go.

However there were fresh legs in the bunch, and Trek-Segafredo worked hard to pull Hansen back, leaving him with a lead of just 1-30 going on to the final classified climbs with 15km remaining.

Any chance of Hansen surviving to the finish were scuppered on the climb, as he saw his entire advantage disappear on the short, steep ascent of Gümligen, setting the race up for a bunch sprint in Bern.

Trek-Segafredo continued to control the bunch as they went into the final 10km, trying to set John Degenkolb up for victory, but the American team came under increasing pressure from Bora-Hansgrohe, Katusha-Alpecin, and BMC Racing, all eager to look after their sprinters and GC hopefuls.

Trek were back on the front as they went under the flamme rouge, setting a high pace as the road climbed towards the line. However that wasn't enough to deter Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r La Mondiale) from going on the attack with 800m remaining.

Unfortunately for the Italian his move was quickly shut down, and as the road flattened out in the final 500m, a sprint between Matthews, Sagan, and Degenkolb looked inevitable.

Most would have tipped either Sagan and Degenkolb to succeed, but instead Matthews beat them to the punch, launching a perfectly timed sprint to win the stage and move into the race lead.

Results

Tour de Suisse 2017, stage three: Menziken to Bern (159km)

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb, in 3-49-48

2. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe

3. John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo

4. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal

5. Michael Albasini (Sui) Orica-Scott

6. Patrick Bevin (NZl) Cannondale-Drapac

7. Arthur Vichot (Fra) FDJ

8. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors

9. Jan Bakelants (Bel) Ag2r La Mondiale

10. Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing, all at same time

General classification after stage three

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb, in 8-18-47

2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 10 secs

3. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 11 secs

4. Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team, at 19 secs

5. Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott, at 20 secs

6. Patrick Bevin (NZl) Cannondale-Drapac, at 22 secs

7. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors, at 23 secs

8. John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo, at 24 secs

9. Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida, at 25 secs

10. Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar, at same time

Michael Matthews long-awaited move to Giant-Alpecin has been confirmed by the German team, with the Australian signing a three-year contract starting from 2017.

The 25-year-old joins after a four-year spell with his native WorldTour team Orica-BikeExchange, and is likely to replace the outgoing John Degenkolb as the team's key sprinter.

Having won stages in all three Grand Tours, with a maiden Tour de France win on stage 10 of this year's race, Matthews has also shown potential in the Classics, with podium finishes at the likes of Amstel Gold Race and Milan-San Remo.

Matthews also took a silver medal in last year's World Championship road race in Richmond, USA, behind Peter Sagan.

"I am very happy with my transfer to Team Giant-Alpecin," said Matthews.

"I have always admired the way the team approaches the sport as a team sport; the stronger and the better we can have the team as a collective operate and perform, the better the opportunities for success the leaders have for the finales of races.

"I am confident that I will be able to get the best out of myself both as a rider and as an individual. The team is already used to working for dedicated leaders in various types of races and has proven that strategy with great results in the biggest races on the calendar.

"That’s the process which I want to help strengthen and where I want to be a part of and contribute to, and I am very much looking forward to joining the team."

In Andorra on the first rest day Michael Matthews was ready to give up on the Tour de France. The 25-year-old Australian has enjoyed success in both the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España, but the Tour just wasn't happening for him.

In 2014 he crashed in training on the Tuesday morning before travelling to Yorkshire. Although he flew to the UK, and even went on stage at the team presentation in Leeds on the Thursday night, he eventually decided his injuries were too severe on the Friday morning and pulled out.

He eventually made his debut one year later. He'd already won stages, and worn the leaders' jerseys in both the Giro and Vuelta and his Tour debut was hotly anticipated. But it quickly turned sour when he was involved in the huge crash on stage three that ended the race for several riders, including yellow jersey holder Fabian Cancellara.

Suffering with broken ribs and multiple abrasions, Matthews struggled on, spending several stages bringing up the rear as the Lantern Rouge, a position he wasn't used to.

"I’ve already crashed twice this year, and I was almost ready to give up on the race." Matthews said after winning stage 10 in to Revel. "I was thinking that maybe the Tour just isn’t for me. I’ve had so much bad luck in this race."

"Then yesterday I had a good talk with my wife she kept me motivated to keep pushing. I really dedicate this win to wife. And my dog Geegee."

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Matthews and his Orica team mates played today's stage to perfection, but they needed three riders in the break to beat the irrepressible Peter Sagan. "Me and Sagan go head to head in most races. In Suisse he got better of me two times." Said Matthews who is Joining Giant Alpecin next year.

"I knew in the final here he was the man to beat, for sure he was strongest rider in break. He was pulling all day, never sat on, and gave it everything for break to stay away, so I knew he had good legs and was up for the win."

"When I got in to the break with Sagan I was a bit unsure what was going to happen. Then I hear on the radio that Luke Durbridge and Daryl Impey were coming across to us. From then I knew it was game on."

"They believed I could pull it off, and they gave it everything they had. Luke rode the perfect race for me. He split the break in two pieces and got rid of some key guys."

He didn't however get rid of Sagan who was eyeing the stage win and the green jersey. With six riders in the final selection, Impey attacked Sagan over and over on the 1.8km climb of Côte de Saint-Ferréol as the world champion set a relentless pace.

Sagan, riding on his own and with everyone knowing he's the fastest sprinter there, lined the group out on his wheel up the climb, often swinging from side to side to prevent attacks. Each time Impey did attack Sagan was easily on his wheel, but the aim wasn't to get away, it was to take the sting out of the Slovak's sprint.

All the while, Matthews was glued to Sagan's wheel. "It's not rocket science, he’s the best bike rider in the world at the moment." Said Orica's head DS Matt White. "He's a freak. Who would have thought that the guy chasing the green jersey, who has already won a stage, would go on the attack on a HC climb from kilometre zero."

"For about ten stages of the Tour de France it’s about how do you beat Peter Sagan. How do we beat him and keep Michael fresh. If Michael is fresh he can beat him, and he did."

Not only did the the win get the Tour monkey off Matthew's back, it was payback for the Tour de Suisse. "Me and Sagan go head to head in most races. In Suisse he got better of me two times, so it’s nice to get one back."

Michael Matthews (Orica-BikeExchange) took the stage 10 victory at the Tour de France, after beating Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) in a sprint finish in Revel from a small breakaway group.

It's the Australian's first win at the Tour de France, having taken stages at the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España in his career, and the first for Orica at this year's race.

Matthews found himself among an elite 13-man breakaway shortly after the category one climb of Port d'Envalira, with Mikel Landa (Sky), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R-La Mondiale), Damiano Caruso (BMC), Edvald Boasson Hagen and Steve Cummings (Dimension Data), Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal), Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), and Orica teammates Luke Durbridge and Daryl Impey all there.

The opening of the stage was full of attacks as riders chased the KOM points on the summit of the climb and tried to get in the breakaway, with peloton looking happy to allow the break to go when the pace settled after the descent.

That allowed Sagan to take the intermediate sprint points ahead of Matthews in the stage, meaning the Slovakian will take over the lead of the points classification from Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data).

The break eventually built up an advantage of well over six minutes, and though that dropped to around just over four minutes, world champion Sagan's attack with 24km to go looked to ensure that the break would stay away.

That attack caused a split in the 13-man group, with only Matthews and his two Orica teammates, Boasson Hagen, Van Avermaet and Dumoulin able to follow.

Watch: Tour de France 2016 stage 10 highlights

The seven other riders quickly slipped to around a minute behind as the front group approached the final category three climb of the stage with around 9km to the finish, with seven minutes back to the peloton.

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And that's where Orica attempted to make their numbers count. Despite the climb being only 1.8km in length, Impey's consistent attacks on the climb forced Sagan to work hard to chase as the others followed his wheel.

The front group eventually came together into the final straight on the 197km stage from Andorra, and it was Van Avermaet who tried to jump first. Matthews then launched himself on the right hand side of the road, with Sagan slightly crowded out as he tried to reply.

But Matthews was a bike length clear by the time he hit the line, and Sagan was able to hold on to second with Boasson Hagen in third.

There was no change to the overall standings after stage 10, with race leader Chris Froome kept safe by his Team Sky squad.

Wednesday sees a chance for the sprinters on a flat stage from Carcassone to Montpellier, with Mark Cavendish aiming for his fourth stage win of the race.

Result

Tour de France 2016 stage 10, Andorra - Revel (197km)

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-BikeExchange in 4-22-38

2. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff

3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data

4. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing

5. Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2r at same time

6. Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-BikeExchange at 2 secs

7. Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica-BikeExchange at 1-10

8. Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing at 3-01

9. Gorka Izaguirre (Esp) Movistar at 3-10

10. Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto-Soudal at same time

General classification after stage 10

1. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky in 49-08–20

2. Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange at 16 secs

3. Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx-QuickStep at 19 secs

4. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 23 secs

5. Joaquim Rodriguez (Esp) Katusha at 37 secs

6. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo at 44 secs

7. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r at 44 secs

8. Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky at 44 secs

9. Louis Meintjes (RSA) Lampre-Merida at 55 secs

10. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar at 1-01

Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) took his second win and retained the overall lead at the 2016 Paris-Nice after he was involved in controversial finish with Nacer Bouhanni of Cofidis.

The Australian finished in second on the road behind Bouhanni, but was subsequently awarded the win as the Frenchman was relegated for an irregular sprint.

The sprint came from a reduced bunch after the peloton was fragmented in the closing couple kilometres of the the fairly flat 213.5km stage. The likes of André Greipel (Lotto-Fix All) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) missed out on the split and finished in the second group one second behind.

In form Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) meanwhile, was unable to stick with the front of the race and was no where close to contesting a space in the top-10 on a stage he probably targeted at the start of the race.

Bouhanni was the first to make his move with around 200 metres to go, with Matthews making his move up the left-hand side of the road.

Matthews drifted towards the barriers as Bouhanni moved slightly across the road, with the pair then sprinting side by side. Bouhanni then seemed to lean across into the Orica-GreenEdge man with both almost coming down.

Niccolo Bonifazio (Trek Factory Racing) was narrowly pipped to second place by Matthews on the road, but subsequently moved to second place after Bouhanni was relegated to third.

Matthews holds on to the yellow jersey for a third day since winning the race's prologue, extending his lead to 14 seconds over Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), with Britain's Geraint Thomas now in fifth just 19 seconds behind.

The day was a fairly sedate affair for the most part, with the main breakaway of Matthias Brandle (IAM), Anthony Delaplace (Fortuneo–Vital Concept), Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre-Merida) and Evaldas Siskevicius (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) stretching a gap of over eight minutes.

They were easily reeled in though, and had just a minute with 23km to go, with the last fragments of the break being caught with 12km to go.

A nasty incident occurred in the closing 9km however, with Fortuneo–Vital Concept rider Pierre-Luc Perichon appearing to collide with a spectator as he was squeezed off the road as it narrowed.

Wednesday's stage three sees the first real day for the GC riders, as the peloton navigates a course of 165.5km from Cusset to the category two finishing climb of Mont Brouilly.

Paris-Nice 2016 stage two, Contres - Commentry (213.5km)

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, in 5-04-46

2. Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Trek-Segafredo

3. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, all same time

4. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha, at 1 sec

5. Arnaud Démare (Fra) FDJ

6. Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky

7. André Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Fix All

8. Wouter Wipper (Ned) Cannondale

9. Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie

10. Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) IAM Cycling, all same time

Overall standing after stage two

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, 9-41-50

2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, at 14 secs

3. Patrick Bevin (NZl) Cannondale, at 19 secs

4. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Movistar

5. Geraint Thomas (GBR) Team Sky, all same time

6. Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana, at 24 secs

7. Dries Devenyns (Bel) IAM Cycling, at 25 secs

8. Arnaud Démare (Fra) FDJ, st

9. Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff, at 27 secs

10. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC, st

Orica-GreenEdge's Michael Matthews stands by the comments he made after the World Championships in September, but insists there is no bad blood between him and Simon Gerrans.

Matthews felt the pair were riding against each other in the finale of the road race in Richmond, where the pair finished second and sixth respectively, as part of Australia coach Brad McGee's two-leader policy.

The young sprinter felt he should have had the full support of his team and former Orica rider Robbie McEwen suggested there would be a rift between the pair.

Secrets of the Toolbox: Orica-GreenEdge

At an Orica event in Melbourne on Thursday, Matthews reiterated his Worlds statement, but says his relationship with Gerrans has not been affected.

"I don't regret anything I said," he told Fairfax Media. "I think I said what needed to be said, and we talked after the race and cleared it all up.

"With what Robbie said about a rift, I think it's all cleared now. Everyone's said what they've wanted to say…we're all professional bike riders, we're all there for a reason: we all want to win when there's an opportunity to win.

"I wasn't too happy about the comment [from McEwan], because obviously we're both winners, me and Simon, so we both saw an opportunity to win the World Championship, so we both wanted to go for it."

Matthews confirmed that he would not be riding in his home land over the winter, preferring instead to return to Europe to prepare for the 2016 season.

This year he came third at both Milan-San Remo and the Amstel Gold Race before wearing the Giro d'Italia's pink jersey for two stages.

Australians Simon Gerrans and Michael Matthews clashed over team leadership and responsibilities following the World Championships on Sunday in Richmond, USA with Matthews saying that the pair raced against each other.

Matthews won the bunch sprint for the silver medal behind solo winner, Peter Sagan (Slovakia). His position was the same that Gerrans achieved last year in Ponferrada Spain behind Polish winner Michal Kwiatkowski. Gerrans yesterday placed sixth in the same group as Matthews.

Matthews explained beforehand that he hoped the entire Aussie team would support him. Gerrans, who also races on the same Orica-GreenEDGE trade team, told the Sydney Morning Herald that both riders had protected status.

"I think we both deserved that," Gerrans, 10 years older at 35, told the Australian newspaper.

"We were both right there at the end of the day and regardless of whether we took a different tactic, Peter Sagan I think was clearly the best guy in the race. The way that Peter rode, it wouldn't have mattered how many leaders you had in the team, we couldn't have done much about that."

Watch: Secrets of the toolbox - Orica-GreenEdge

Matthews was less diplomatic after receiving his silver medal and watching Sagan don the rainbow jersey. His team and other teams attempted to pull back Sagan after the last climb, but failed by three seconds.

Speaking to Cyclingnews, he praised team-mate Heinrich Haussler's work, but not Gerrans's. He explained Gerrans did not help him.

"We were sprinting against each other unfortunately. We had two leaders so it is what it is," he said.

"I would have liked the full support but it is what it is. We came in with two leaders."

Former professional, Bradley McGee directed the Australian team. His two-pronged approach was a good way to get a medal, but maybe not the gold one, said Matthews.

Matthews, 25, began as a favourite with places this year in big one-day races: third in both Milan-San Remo and the Amstel Gold Race, and second in Brabantse Pijl and the GP Quebec.

Gerrans had a terrible season with three crashes and subsequent fractures. He won Liège-Bastogne-Liège and both the Canadian WorldTour races in Québec and Montreal last year, but due to his setbacks was still without a win in 2015.

He returned to racing in the Vuelta a España after abandoning the Tour de France with a broken wrist.

Gerrans, however, added that he raced to McGee's pre-race plan. He said, "It was never the case of somebody didn't do what was asked of them, or somebody didn't do what was expected of them throughout the day.”

Australia last won the elite men’s road race in 2009 in Mendrisio, Switzerland, with Cadel Evans.

The Lanterne Rouge can be a status symbol to some riders - the last rider in the Tour de France general classification - but Orica-GreenEdge's Michael Matthews is keen to rid himself of the title.

Matthews endured a torrid first week in the race, breaking ribs and suffering multiple abrasions in the huge crash on stage three which knocked out a number of big-name riders.

The Australian, who wore the pink jersey at this year's Giro d'Italia, is keen to point out that he was one of the few riders to get up from that crash and carry on and is confident of moving up the rankings as the stages progress.

"It's been a really hard race with so much stress but the team was behind me keeping me motivated," he told letour.fr. "I'm still hoping to get results in the later part of the Tour and that's the main reason to stay in the race.

"I'm last because the day that I crashed I was the only one from that crash to finish the stage. I don't like being last but I also keep it at the back of my mind that I was the only one to get through from that crash.

"In the next few days I'll move up in the GC. A few stages are good for me coming up. The goal is to try and take stage wins. To finish the Tour is not an objective for now."

Matthews sits 177th and last on the GC after stage 11, more than two hours behind behind race leader Chris Froome. Britain's Alex Dowsett is just one place ahead of him, and could find himself at the foot of the table soon as he continues to struggle on.

Watch highlights from stage 11 of the Tour de France

Orica-GreenEdge sprinter Michael Matthews beat Monday's winner Peter Sagan by a bike length to triumph on stage four of the Tour de Suisse in Schwarzenbach.

The Australian held off the Slovakian champion and BMC's Greg Van Avermaet in the sprint to the finish to claim his fourth win of the season.

Sprinters Mark Cavendish and Alexander Kristoff were dropped from the main bunch some distance from the finish on the tough stage, almost ensuring the finale would come down to Sagan and Matthews.

The breakaway was caught with more than 50km to go but Alexej Lutsenko (Astana) went off the front in the final 20km, opening a gap of 22 seconds as he passed the 10km to go mark.

Stage three breakaway member Marco Marcato (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) caught and passed Lutsenko with 6.7km to go and Sergio Henao soon bridged the gap to the leader on the final climb.

Henao and Marcato were joined by Jan Bakelants, with the trio staying seven seconds off the front with four kilometers left, although a kilometre later the group was back together, leading to a bunch sprint.

Geraint Thomas (Sky) was held up by a late crash, but retained his fourth place overall, nine seconds behind leader Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin). The time bonus for finishing second moves Sagan to just one second behind leader Dumoulin.

Tour de Suisse 2015 stage four: Flims-Schwarzenbach (193.2k)

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, 4-36-00

2. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, st

3. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC, st

4. John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Alpecin, st

5. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek Factory Racing, st

6. Dani Moreno (Esp) Katusha, st

7. Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC, st

8. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ, st

9. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx-Quick-Step, st

10. Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, st

Overall classification after stage four

1. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, in 11-19-08

2. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo

3. Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha, at 8 seconds

4. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, at 9 seconds

5. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ, at 15 seconds

6. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, at 17 seconds

7. Steve Morabito (Sui) FDJ, at 18 seconds

8. Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre-Merida, at 21 seconds

9. Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek, at 22 seconds

10. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha, at 22 seconds

Geraint Thomas shows Cycling Weekly his racing scars

Giro d'Italia 2015 stage winners Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soundal) and Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) are both non-starters for Saturday's crucial stage 14 time trial.

Greipel and Matthews are among several riders to have withdrawn ahead of the long 59.4-kilometre individual test against the clock on Saturday. Greipel's team-mate Greg Henderson is also a non-starter with a hard final week in the mountains looming after the time trial.

German champion Greipel won the bunch sprint finish on stage six to Castiglione della Pescaia. He had been hoping for more success in the sprints, but bad weather, bad positioning and crashes held him up.

"The day after the team time trial I had a first chance, but on the uphill finish I started too soon and I got beaten," said Greipel. "Last Tuesday there was a new opportunity, but the escapees stayed ahead and yesterday [Friday] the chaos in the finale was so big that I didn’t get to the front in time to do a good sprint.

"I’m happy we won one stage, but I had hoped for one more."

Greipel is now scheduled to take part in the ZLM Toer with the hope of being selected to ride in the Tour de France in July, where he will face British sprinter Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep), German Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin), on-form Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and last year's green jersey winner, Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo).

Matthews won stage three whilst in the overall race lead after his Orica-GreenEdge squad had clinched the opening team time trial.

>>> Fabio Aru will be the biggest loser in Giro's time trial, say rival team bosses

Saturday's time trial stage is set to lead to a major shake-up in the general classification, which was unexpectedly changed after yesterday's pan-flat stage. Fabio Aru (Astana) took the race lead from Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) after Contador was caught up in a crash just outside three kilometres to go.

Team Sky leader Richie Porte was another caught up in the incident, which all but finished his hopes of a high placing in the general classification as he slips to 17th overall, five minutes and five second down on Aru.

Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) took a second career Giro d'Italia stage win on stage three of the 2015 race, after outsprinting Fabio Feline (Trek Factory Racing) to the finish line in Sestri Levante.

The Australian also retained the maglia rosa as he faced reduced competition from his rival sprinters, after many of them fell away from the peloton on the category two climb, Barbagelata, which the riders crested 50km from the finish.

It was then a fast and flat run into town after a narrow descent from the climb, which caught out Domenico Pozzovivo, who took a nasty fall which saw him abandon the race after being carried away in an ambulance.

But as the main bunch ran into town, the result almost looked inevitable, with Orica-GreenEdge driving the pace on the front through Peter Weening and later Simon Gerrans, before Matthews launched his sprint to take victory by half-a-bike length.

Matthews's Orica teammates had been the main instigators in chasing down the day's breakaway, which had hovered at arms-length from the peloton for most of the short 136km stage.

The break had begun as a 25-man strong group, with the likes of Tom Boonen (Etixx - Quick-Step), Philippe Gilbert (BMC) and Matthews's teammate Simon Clarke all making the jump to the group at the stage's start.

The time (which only stretched to around three minutes) and the group's numbers began to fall away as they approched the climb, with Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha) making the most significant attack towards the top of Barbagelata, earning himself the blue mountains jersey.

The Russian went solo for much of the descent, before being joined by the likes of Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal), Maciej Paterski (CCC) as well as Simon Clarke, who bridged the gap from the chasing group.

Clarke refused to work with his leading companions, while his teammates continued to drive on the front of the peloton to bring the foursome back, which they inevitably did with 3km remaining.

It was then down to the sprint, with Matthews finishing victorious and sealing another day in the pink leader's jersey.

Tuesday's stage four sees the riders take on another tricky hilly profile, with a category three climb 10km from the finish throwing a spanner in the works for any sprinters looking for another chance at a stage win.

Results
Giro d’Italia 2015, stage three: Rapallo to Sestri Levante, 136km

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, in 3-33-53

2. Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek Factory Racing

3. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC

4. Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Katusha

5. Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana

6. Luca Paolini (Ita) Katusha

7. Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Southeast

8. Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani - CSF

9. Luis Leon Sanchez (Esp) BMC

10. Yonathan Monslave (Col) Southeast

Overall classification after stage three

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, in 8-06-27

2. Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, at 6 seconds

3. Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, at 10 seconds

4. Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, st

5. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo, at 17 seconds

6. Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff-Saxo, st

7. Michael Rogers (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo, st

8. Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana, at 23 seconds

9. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana, st

10. Diego Rosa (Ita) Astana, st

Stage two of the Giro d'Italia is in the bag and Team Sky's Elia Viviani is a very happy man. His win made up for Sky's disappointment of the previous day, but here's who else can be pleased or concerned about their day.

Winners

Michael Matthews

Rarely is someone who finishes seventh on a stage so heralded, but Australian sprinter Michael Matthews did just enough to poach the pink leader's jersey from his teammate Simon Gerrans.

Some had Matthews down as one to watch for the stage win in Genoa, with the final stretch being slightly uphill, but the 24-year-old in the young rider classification jersey couldn't quite snatch it.

But for 'Bling', as he is affectionately known, the pink jersey will likely be more sweet than the stage win and, most importantly, he ensured the maglia rosa remains with Orica-GreenEdge for another day.

Matthews got a taste of life in pink last year in almost identical circumstances. Orica won the team time trial in Belfast and got Svein Tuft in pink before Matthews trundled over the line eighth on stage two to take control.

Last year he held on for six stages, but with the challenging route this year he may struggle to keep himself up in the standings as the week goes on.

Team Sky

From losers to winners in the space of a day - it's a fickle world. Elia Viviani's win in Genoa was just what the doctor ordered after a disappointing opening team time trial.

Richie Porte will still be lying awake at night in his fancy caravan trying to think of ways to get back the 20 seconds he lost to Alberto Contador, but at least the Sky boys have something to celebrate.

It's been an up-and-down start to the season for Viviani - his first at Sky. An early win in Dubai was followed by a podium at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.

Then a crash at Scheldeprijs set the Italina back a bit and he passed up the chance of stage wins in Turkey to tackle the hills of Romandie instead.

It was back to winning ways for Viviani in Genoa, though, giving Team Sky something to smile about.

Southeast

The best thing the Italian Pro Continental squad have done in this Giro is introduce a new jersey.

Out goes the horrible grey kit of the early season - reminiscent of the one Manchester United wore for 45 minutes against Southampton in 1996 until they realised they couldn't see each other - and in comes a nice white get-up.

The day started well for the squad, sending Albanian rider Eugert Zhupa up the road in the breakaway for a bit of exposure for the sponsors, as well as welcome boost for Albanian cycling.

They didn't just settle for that, however, as Alessandro Petacchi - the fourth oldest man in the world - beat out riders nearly half his age to place fifth on the stage.

He's not won a stage at the Giro since 2011, but Petacchi proved there's no substitute for experience.

Losers

Heinrich Haussler

Poor old Heinrich. The Australian national champion must have been pretty confident of his chances on stage two but the poor fella ended up battered and bruised as he crossed the line 11 minutes down.

In the first of his two crashes Haussler was joined on the tarmac by the majority of his teammates and he looked in some discomfort sprawled by the central reservation.

Chances of victory over, the Australian hopped gingerly back on his bike, only to be brought crashing down again about five kilometres later.

Unfortunately for Haussler, wearing the green and gold bands as Aussie champion made him instantly recogniseable as lay on the ground, so there was nowhere to hide.

Domenico Pozzovivo

Ag2r-La Mondiale's Pozzovivo must have to wonder what's going to go wrong next. Not only did his team put in a pretty shocking time trial on Saturday, seeing the Italian lose nearly a minute, he was then caught behind a crash and lost another 69 seconds.

Former Giro winner Ryder Hesjedal was also stuck behind the tumble, but managed to make it back into the bunch for the finish, but Pozzo was nowhere to be seen until he led a bunch of domestiques over the line.

If his Giro wasn't effectively over after day one, it almost certainly is after day two.

The bloke on the fixie

We've seen some acts of stupidity from fans at the Grand Tours, but trying to join a speeding peloton on a fixed-gear bike is up there as one of the stupidest.

Trek Factory Racing's Eugenio Alafaci alerted the world to the incident, which caused dozens of riders to crash in the last 10km.

If you're going to take a bike to watch a bike race, don't try and enter the field of play. It'll only end in tears and they'll most likely be yours when you're lynched by angry bike riders.

The video department at Orica-GreenEdge has been busy once more, creating this video to reveal the nine riders that will make up their Giro d'Italia team.

Orica have one of the best social media teams in the pro peloton, with regular viral videos emerging from the Australian squad, from musical tributes to filming some riders 'getting hypnotised'.

This time, however, they've toned down the jovial antics and simply put together a video montage for each of their chosen Giro riders, with the squad featuring Simon Gerrans and Michael Matthews.

Matthews took the maglia rosa leader's jersey after stage two of the Giro in Northern Ireland last year, winning stage six to Montecassino in pink a few days later.

Gerrans, meanwhile, is set to ride only his second Giro d'Italia as he continues his comeback from a string of early season injuries.

Among the squad's other members, Orica looks to be setting its stall out for the opening team time trial, with the likes of Luke Durbridge and Brett Lancaster among the many faces returning from last year's squad.

Orica-GreenEdge Giro d'Italia squad

Michael Matthews, Sam Bewley, Esteban Chaves, Simon Clarke, Luke Durbridge, Simon Gerrans, Michael Hepburn, Brett Lancaster, Pieter Weening

Australian Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) won the opening stage of the Tour of the Basque Country in Bilbao on Monday, sprinting to take the victory from a reduced peloton.

Matthews prevailed on the hilly opening stage of the six-day WorldTour race in Spain, out-pacing world champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) and third-placed Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) to take the early race lead.

The majority of the pre-race favourites made it into the lead group, including Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Sergio Henao (Sky) and British riders Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge). Several riders were caught up in a crash in the finale.

Earlier in the day, an escape group consisting of Omar Fraile (Caja Rural), Anthony Turgis (Cofidis) and Brian Bulgac (LottoNL-Jumbo) had dictated much of the action. Fraile was the last of the trio to be swept up by the peloton with 17km to go.

On Tuesday's stage two the riders face another hilly trip, from Bilbao to Vitoria-Gasteiz over 175.4km and featuring six categorised climbs.

Results

Tour of the Basque Country 2015, stage one: Bilbao to Bilbao, 163km

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge

2. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Etixx-QuickStep

3. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha

4. Kevin Reza (Fra) FDJ

5. Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto-Soudal

6. Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis

7. Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek Factory Racing

8. Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Astana

9. Petr Vakoc (Cze) Etixx-QuickStep

10. Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha all same time

Other

27. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge

Overall classification after stage one

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge

2. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Etixx-QuickStep

3. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha

4. Kevin Reza (Fra) FDJ

5. Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto-Soudal

Michael Matthews can rival Peter Sagan for the Tour de France’s green jersey, according to three-time points classification winner and fellow Australian Robbie McEwen.

The 24-year-old Matthews has long been hailed as ‘the next big thing’ in Australian cycling, but has found a new lease of life at Orica-GreenEdge in recent years, having struggled to meet expectations at Rabobank.

With Matthews’ third-place finish at Milan-San Remo, McEwen, who took home the green jersey in 2002, 2004 and 2006, believes the young sprinter has all the qualities to challenge Sagan in France.

"It's a good indicator to win a points jersey at a race of that level, the Paris-Nice or Tirreno-[Adriatico]," McEwen told the Canberra Times.

"I think at the moment Michael is probably the man to take on Sagan for the Tour green jersey."

Matthews was set to compete in his first Tour de France last year before a crash in the week preceding the race forced him to withdraw.

Despite only being 24, Matthews is not short of Grand Tour experience, winning two stages of the Vuelta a España in 2013 and holding the Giro d’Italia’s leaders jersey last May.

Five top-ten finishes in the ten Giro stages last year were added to by five more, including a win, at the Vuelta as he finished sixth in the points classification.

And in his 2015 season debut at Paris-Nice, the rider nicknamed ‘Bling’ took a stage win and three other top-ten finishes on his way to winning the green jersey.

While Matthews may lack the top-end speed to challenge the pure sprinters, McEwen believes he can challenge Sagan thanks to his abilities on the hillier stages.

"In the fashion that Sagan has won it the last three years, he's been competitive in the sprints – he didn't win a stage last year – but he romped away with green with a million points lead because he can climb ... and that's something Michael's capable of.

"He'll have to do it better than Sagan obviously."

It’s somewhat foolish to describe any team as a shoo-in at a one-day race but Australia certainly has its bases covered ahead of the elite men’s UCI Road World Championship in Spain tomorrow.

Cadel Evans, who announced his pending retirement this week, became the first Australian to win an elite men's road cycling world title five years ago in Mendrisio, Switzerland and his experience may contribute to seeing a compatriot welcomed to the club on Sunday.

In-form Simon Gerrans and Michael Matthews spearhead the diverse squad that also includes Classics specialist Mathew Hayman as well as Simon Clarke, who is making his fifth senior career appearance, Adam Hansen, who just completed his 10th consecutive Grand Tour, Rohan Dennis, who finished a respectable fifth in the elite men’s time trial world championship on Wednesday, plus Heinrich Haussler and Rory Sutherland.

Gerrans, Hayman and Clarke were part of the team that supported Evans to victory in 2009. It was a year later that Matthews won gold in the under-23 road world championship on home soil besting German John Degenkolb, who is another favourite for this year’s elite race.

National performance director Kevin Tabotta wouldn’t go as far to say Australia has its best shot since Mendrisio of winning gold in the event. However, he has faith in what is a very capable roster.

“I certainly believe that we are in the frame - like a lot of nations,” Tabotta told Cycling Weekly in a telephone interview from Spain. “I wouldn’t go as far to say this is our best chance since any time.

“We go to every world title thinking we’re a chance because we have a range of athletes at each world title that suit that course. I mean, we went into last year’s world title with some talented bike riders as well thinking that they were suited to that course ... conditions played a little bit of havoc obviously that day.”

Australia will certainly be marked in the undulating circuit race, the outcome of which, based on the course, is even more unpredictable. The onus will too be on the powerhouse nation to work.

“I think that we are a very good chance this year because we have a strong leadership group and we have a very strong support group,” Tabotta continued. “I think it’s one of the best teams we’ve put together in a few years because of availabilities and also people hitting form at the right time. But I also see that there are a number of nations in the same boat.

“We’re in a good position and give ourselves every chance, but it’s got to happen on the road and it’s up to the athletes on the day.”

Twitter: @SophieSmith86

Cycling Australia announces new board

Michael Matthews becomes sixth Australian professional to wear pink

Simon Gerrans wins Australian road race title

Simon Gerrans takes Australian road race national championship win ahead of Cadel Evans and Richie Porte

Australian Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) came off the heels of Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) in the final metres of the uphill finish to Arcos de la Frontera to win Vuelta a España stage three today. With the win and bonus seconds, he took over the race leader's red jersey from Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).

"We had to take control from the start because we had a good chance for me to win a stage," Matthews said. "As you could see, none of my team-mates were left at the finish because they worked so hard."

The hard work gave Matthews the lead by four seconds on Giro d'Italia winner Nairo Quintana (Movistar), 11 on Valverde and 15 on Rigoberto Urán (Omega Pharma-QuickStep). Chris Froome (Sky) moves up to 17th place, 31 seconds adrift of Matthews.

After a push by Katusha, including Daniel Caruso with a small gap, Martin took over at 200 metres. Matthews, 23, came around the outside of a left-hand curve and edged out Martin, who banged his handlebars in frustration.

Matthews won a stage and led the Giro d'Italia for six days this May. He was due to race the Tour de France but crashed training beforehand. He returned and wasted no time to fly Orica's green and blue colours by winning the 197.8-kilometre third stage.

"It's a dream come true to have all this success in one year," added Matthews. "It feels great to have my season end here with a stage and the red jersey already. It couldn't be better".

Joaquím Rodríguez (Katusha) finished third, Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) sixth, Moreno held on for ninth and Froome placed 10th.

Five men escaped around 10 kilometres in and led for much of the stage: Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (MTN-Qhubeka), Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing), Mas Bonet (Caja Rural), Jonathan Fumeaux (IAM Cycling) and Jérôme Cousin (Europcar). Bonet remained free the longest, seeing the end of his time near 25 kilometres to go.

A crash involved two Movistar riders Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas and Adriano Malori, and nearly brought down Froome and yesterday's sprint winner Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr).

Orica, Katusha and Omega Pharma led for much of the remaining kilometres, including the tricky right turn onto a narrow bridge at 2.5 kilometres. From there, the riders raced single-file and found it hard to manoeuvre on the tight and twisty city streets. Moreno and Martin tried, but 'Bling' Matthews had the most gas left in his take after the 1.5-kilometre rise into Arcos de la Frontera.

Results

Vuelta a Espana 2014, stage three: Cadiz to Arcos de la Frontera, 197.8km

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge in 5-12-14

2. Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp

3. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha

4. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Belkin

5. Paul Martens (Ger) Belkin

6. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing

7. Lloyd Mondory (Fra) Ag2r

8. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ

9. Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha

10. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky all same time

Overall classification after stage three

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge in 9-27-53

2. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 4 secs

3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 11 secs

4. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Omega Pharma-QuickStep at 15 secs

5. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale at 17 secs

6. Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge at 17 secs

7. George Bennett (NZl) Cannondale at 20 secs

8. Julian Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing at 20 secs

9. Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek Factory Racing at 20 secs

10. Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Omega Pharma-QuickStep at 22 secs

Other

17. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky at 31 secs

23. Peter Kenaugh (GBr) Team Sky at 38 secs

102. Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge at 3-41

169. David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp at 6-19

Nacer Bouhanni wins Vuelta a Espana stage two

French sprinter Nacer Bouhanni takes first road stage of the 2014 Vuelta a Espana

Movistar wins Vuelta a Espana opening team time trial

Jonathan Castroviejo is first rider to wear the leader's jersey in the 2014 Vuelta a Espana