Nationality: Australian
Date of birth: September 26, 1990
Height: 180cm
Weight: 72kg
Team: Team Sunweb
Twitter: @blingmatthews
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.”
The Australian was forced to withdraw from the Italian Grand Tour following a positive coronavirus test but has subsequently returned two negative tests
The Australian's initial positive may have been a false positive
Michael Matthews has withdrawn from the Giro d’Italia after testing positive for coronavirus.
Michael Matthews is leaving Sunweb before the end of his contract to re-join his old Mitchelton-Scott squad.
The Australian took the win after his team-mate made a gap in the peloton in the closing stages
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.
Michael Matthews has extended his contract with Sunweb after a successful three seasons with the outfit.
The Australian says he's spent the past few months preparing to assist Dumoulin in place of his own ambitions
Michael Matthews out-sprinted Alejandro Valverde to take his first win of 2019 on stage two of the Volta a Catalunya.
Matthews doubles up after victory Québec by beating Sonny Colbrelli to the line in Montréal
Matthews beats Greg Van Avermaet and Jasper Stuyven in the one-day race in Canada
Team Sunweb's hopes of repeating their successful 2017 Tour de France suffered a major blow after Michael Matthews abandoned before the start of stage five.
Australian Michael Matthews has endured injury and illness throughout the Classics
Australian Michael Matthews takes his first victory of the season, winning the short opening time trial of the 2018 Tour de Romandie
Selection of Tour de France stars will line-up at this Sunday's Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic
John Degenkolb and Michael Matthews had an altercation at the end of stage 16 of the Tour de France
Roglic takes it in style, Kittel breaks, Contador gives it one last throw of the dice and more talking points from stage 17 of the Tour de France
Michael Matthews has registered his discontent after a spat with Tour de France stage 16 runner up John Degenkolb after the finish in Romans-sur-Isère.
The two sprinters are now neck and neck in the points standings with only two stages remaining to decide it
Michael Matthews 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.
Michael Matthews, winner of stage 14 of the Tour de France to Rodez, says that his victory was made harder by being the favourite coming into the stage.
Peter Sagan sprinter unclipped in the final sprint but still managed to take victory on the uphill finish of stage three of the Tour de France
Team Sunweb's Michael Matthews takes the overall race lead after winning stage three of the Tour de Suisse ahead of Bora-Hansgrohe's Peter Sagan.
Michael Matthews joins Giant-Alpecin on a three-year contract from Orica-BikeExchange
Orica-BikeExchange rider Michael Matthews dedicates Tour de France stage win to his dog Geegee - and his wife - after almost giving up on the race.
