Nationality: Australian
Date of birth: September 26, 1990
Height: 180cm
Weight: 72kg
Team: Team Sunweb
Twitter: @blingmatthews
Michael Matthew's career to date
A solid sprinter and puncheur, Michael Matthews is one of the most successful Australian riders in the pro peloton today. Having won stages in all three Grand Tours, Matthews isn't afraid of trying new races and has won a Grand Tour stage every year since 2013.
Known as 'bling' in the peloton for his love of shiny earrings, Matthews has won several points jerseys throughout his career including back to back green jerseys in Paris-Nice (2015, 2016).
With strong team behind him at the 2017 Tour de France, Michael Matthews was hoping to build on Team Sunweb's success at the Giro d'Italia with Tom Dumoulin's victory.
Early dominance by Marcel Kittel saw the German take five stages in the first half of the race as he all but secured the green jersey. However, Matthews, determined to fight to the end and continued to take intermediate sprint points as his German rival would focus solely on stage wins but as the race started to grow Kittel started to struggle.
Punchy stages coupled with high mountain top finishes saw Kittel drop backwards and Matthews started to prosper. Stage 14 saw Matthews take his second ever Tour de France stage on a punchy finish. Then a few mountain stages were the final blow as Kittel succumbed to illness, while Matthews started to prosper once more with another win on stage 16.
A crash on stage 17 saw Kittel leave and Matthews all but secure the Tour de France green jersey, being the first Australian to do so since Robbie McEwan. Sure enough, he maintained his lead, rolling into Paris the leader of the points competition for 2017.
Matthews pulled out of the following years tour due to illness, thus unable to defend his green jersey. However, his season was brightened by a stage win at the Binck Bank Tour and a second place in the GC. He also won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec for the first time in his career.
His 2019 tour was hampered when it was revealed that Tom Dumoulin would not be riding. He spoke to CW, saying: "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.”
Latest
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'It's a shame to be out of the game': Michael Matthews just happy to be healthy after false positive at Giro d'Italia
The Australian was forced to withdraw from the Italian Grand Tour following a positive coronavirus test but has subsequently returned two negative tests
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Michael Matthews retests negative for coronavirus after leaving Giro d'Italia
The Australian's initial positive may have been a false positive
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Giro d’Italia 2020: Michael Matthews withdraws from race after coronavirus diagnosis
Michael Matthews has withdrawn from the Giro d’Italia after testing positive for coronavirus.
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Michael Matthews pulls out of Sunweb contract early to re-join Mitchelton-Scott
Michael Matthews is leaving Sunweb before the end of his contract to re-join his old Mitchelton-Scott squad.
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Michael Matthews takes the Bretagne Classic 2020 in a select sprint finish
The Australian took the win after his team-mate made a gap in the peloton in the closing stages
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Sunweb backs lead-out rider Cees Bol over sprinter Michael Matthews on stage 11 of Tour de France
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.
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Michael Matthews extends contract with Sunweb ahead of Tour de France 2019
Michael Matthews has extended his contract with Sunweb after a successful three seasons with the outfit.
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Michael Matthews left ‘totally confused’ by Tom Dumoulin’s Tour de France absence
The Australian says he's spent the past few months preparing to assist Dumoulin in place of his own ambitions
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Michael Matthews sails to victory on stage two of Volta a Catalunya 2019
Michael Matthews out-sprinted Alejandro Valverde to take his first win of 2019 on stage two of the Volta a Catalunya.
