Since Cadel Evans' gold medal at the 2009 UCI Road World Championships Australia has won a bronze, three silver medals and finished inside the top-ten on the other two occasions. The last two of the silver medals came under the stewardship of Brad McGee, who replaced Matt White as the national coach in 2013, and the former first Australian to wear the leader's jersey at all three grand tours is aiming for a third medal in Doha this Sunday with his team.
Michael Matthews will spearhead the nine-man squad 13-months on from his silver medal at the 2015 Worlds in Richmond with Orica-BikeExchange teammate Caleb Ewan a fast finishing 'plan b'. On that Spring afternoon in Virginia, Matthews told Cyclingnews that he and Simon Gerrans were "sprinting against each other", adding "I think maybe we need a change of strategy". On Sunday, there will be no Gerrans in the lineup, himself a silver medallist at the Worlds from 2014, with the team to ride in support of the 26-year-old Matthews as McGee told Cyclingnews from Doha.
"I think we have to give credit where it's due there, and the experience and performance level that Michael brings into this race is very well noted and largely the team is built around Michael," McGee said of the team selection.
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"We are ready for any outcome of this race and again, we're dropping all assumptions and just being ready for any possible outcome on the road. In general, we are here to support Michael Matthews who is a proven contender and I was really pleased to see his TTT which shows everything is on track there for him."
On paper the parcours looks better suited to Ewan, whose inclusion McGee describes as a "huge bonus", but Matthews' palmares tips the scales in his favour as he explained.
"Caleb is here is particular reasons, there is big future for Caleb and it's a big opportunity with the parcours the way it is and suiting his style of racing. His youth and level of experience, to have him at a world championships is going to be a huge bonus," said McGee.
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