Michael Matthews (Australia) claimed a valiant second place in the men's elite road race at the Worlds on Sunday but there was no hiding his disappointment at the finish line.
The Australian won the bunch sprint for second after Peter Sagan skipped clear on the penultimate climb to take the biggest win of his career but Matthews opened a debate over his team's tactics after stating that he and teammate Simon Gerrans had sprinted against each other. Gerrans, who finished on the podium last year, took sixth but Matthews pondered whether the final result might have been different if Gerrans had worked for him.
When Sagan attacked Australia had strength in numbers and were one of the nations to lead the chase with Heinrich Haussler playing a key role.
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"I think that I had maybe three guys," Matthews told Cyclingnews when he was asked about the number of teammates who were with him inside the final kilometres.
"Heinrich Haussler and Simon Gerrans. Heinrich did a really good job trying to pull it back a bit on the climb but he was working all through the race for me to keep it together and keep me in position, so he didn't really have much left in the end. Heinrich did a really good job today and kept himself out of trouble and put me in the perfect position, which is a really hard job to do. I'm really grateful for that."
When asked if Gerrans had helped him, he replied: "No, I think we were sprinting against each other unfortunately. We had two leaders so it is was it is."
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