Just under 12-months ago Michael Matthews' Tour de France dreams were cruelled by a training ride accident that saw the Orica-GreenEdge rider attend the team presentation in Leeds covered in bandages forcing him to forfeit his place for Christian Meier. The 24-year-old has that memory firmly in mind as he puts the finishing touches on his preparation for the 102nd edition of the race that starts Saturday in Utrecht with a 13.8km time trial.
"I try and steer clear of roads that I know are dangerous for starters and just be a lot more careful and know that anything can happen at anytime and be ready if a car pulls out, or something jumps out in front of me when training that I am ready for it," Matthews told Cyclingnews.
In 2015 Matthews has reached another level with the enviable record of claiming a win in all four stage races he's started, and finishing on the podium of the three on-day races he's finished. The only blemish being a DNF at La Flèche Wallonne which provided Matthews with an important test of the Mur de Huy which features on stage 4 of the Tour.
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While appreciating his run of form, Matthews knows his luck can change at any moment and isn't taking it for granted.
"It's a nice statistic that everyone is mentioning at the moment and it's been really nice to win a stage in every tour I've done so far," he said. "When you think about it seems pretty unreal. I am not really thinking about too much about it. I put a lot of stress on myself ahead of last year's Tour and had a big crash the day I was meant to leave.
"This year, I know I've done all the preparation and at this stage its just relax as much as possible until the race starts. We've basically devoted our whole season to be the best for now and we know that I am going well so we just need to try and get to start line and see what happens."
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