After a difficult Paris-Nice in which he battled the conditions and the mountainous terrain, Michael Matthews is determined to bring his best form to Milan-San Remo on Saturday.
The 26-year-old is bidding to become just the third Australian to win the Italian Classic, and after finishing on the podium two years ago, has the credentials to rival the favourites, Peter Sagan and Fernando Gaviria.
At this point last year Matthews was heading to Milan-San Remo with two wins under his belt through stage wins at Paris-Nice. This year the path to Milan has been slightly different. The Australian is in Sunweb black and white, rather than Orica blue after a winter switch, and there were no stage wins at Paris-Nice this time around.
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The race was far from an unsuccessful venture, however, with four top-10 placings and two impressive rides in the uphill time trial and then the final mountain stage into Nice.
Matthews, who made his season debut at the 'Race to the Sun', would have been forgiven for throwing in the towel after the opening two stages in northern France. While most of his rivals opened their campaigns at the Tour Down Under or under the blazing sun of a Middle Eastern stage race, Matthews had to contend with freezing rain and high winds at Paris-Nice.
"Paris-Nice has been up and down, obviously, and the first two days were not as I expected. Without racing, having the off-season, and then going in and having those two stages as your first race days, it was hard," he told Cyclingnews.
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