Olympic champion Matt Walls without a team for 2024

Olympic track champion Matt Walls is without a team for next season, he revealed to Cycling Weekly. 

The Omnium gold medallist is coming to an end of a three-year term with Bora-Hansgrohe, but does not currently have a contract for 2024.

The Brit, who suffered a horror crash on the track at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, has endured an injury-stricken past 12 months, which has disrupted a crucial contract year with his current WorldTour team. 

Speaking to Cycling Weekly at the Tour of Britain last week, Walls said he has had a “pretty rough time”.

In May, the 25-year-old fractured his hip in a training crash, and only returned to racing this month. “I just slipped out on a wet roundabout going pretty slow,” he explained, “and ended up breaking a hip, which is not the best. It was pretty hard. I had quite a long time off the bike.” 

The crash came less than 12 months after Walls went over the barriers and into the crowd at the Commonwealth Games, suffering severe concussion and requiring stitches in his forehead. 

He has raced just 25 days in 2023, and his last victory on the road came at Gran Piemonte in October 2021. 

“It’s been a pretty rough two years, basically,” the Bora-Hansgrohe rider said. “Hopefully [the bad luck] has ended, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” 

Asked if he has a contract for 2024, Walls replied “no”. He then confirmed that there are no contract discussions ongoing with Bora-Hansgrohe. 

“We’ll have to wait and see what comes out,” he said. “Obviously I’ve been out of racing for so long, and the bad luck last year, as well. It was pretty rough. I didn’t really know what was going to happen. 

“[I’ve] hopefully got something on the horizon.” 

It is also uncertain whether the Omnium champion will defend his title at the Olympics in Paris next summer. The Brit has not raced on the track since his crash at the Commonwealth Games, and is expected to be replaced in the event by Ineos Grenadiers rider Ethan Hayter, with whom he took silver in the Madison in Tokyo. 

“I’ve got an eye on it,” Walls said of the Olympics. “I’m not really sure when I’m going to [next] race track. I’m hoping to do some over the winter. But obviously I’ve got like zero [Olympic] points now.

“I’m waiting to chat with GB and we can come up with a plan of what we need to do to get me back in contention for selection.”