Fresh from three weeks of altitude training in Livigno, Michael Matthews only arrived at the Tour de Suisse on the eve of the WorldTour stage race. Fourth place in the prologue hinted at a successful camp for the Team Sunweb rider, confirmed with stage 3 victory over world champion Peter Sagan and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo).
Not only was the win important for Matthews in the context of the race, it also moves him into the leader's yellow jersey, it was a significant psychological victory. Matthews will be up against Sagan and Degenkolb at the Tour de France in the battle for stage wins and the green jersey assured his form can best the duo.
After a crash on the eve of the 2014 Tour de France ruled Matthews out of the race, a high-speed crash in 2015 saw the 26-year-old break several ribs and suffer through to Paris where he was top-ten on the Champs-Élysées. It was third time lucky in 2016 for Matthews in when he won stage 10 from a select breakaway to add to his Vuelta a Espana and Giro d'Italia wins. Readying for his first Tour with Team Sunweb, Matthews told Cyclingnews that "everything is going well towards to the Tour" and is he ready to create more lasting memories at the French Grand Tour.
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"I feel better than last year. Each year we have made progression in my training and my nutrition and everything around cycling," Matthews told Cyclingnews of his current form and condition. "I think those little things are making me that little bit better each year and this year we have had a lot of good weather in Livigno. Last year we had three weeks of rain. My teammate Nikias Arndt and I had really good training, so we did everything we wanted to get done in those three weeks. Last year I was by myself in living, and it rained for three weeks straight, so it wasn't the ideal preparation. This year everything has gone a lot smoother, and it was easier to get the stuff done we needed to do."
A stage winner at the 2015 Tour de Suisse, Matthews' best result last year was third on stage 2 in Baar and ended his race early with a DNS on stage nine. Compared to his last few seasons, Matthews has arrived at the important Tour tune-up with at least multiple wins under his belt. In 2017, Matthews had enjoyed just the solitary victory on stage 1 of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco but is hoping his Berne success will open the floodgates with his new team.
"I just think everything needs to come together. We have a really strong team, I have really strong form and I think maybe changing teams made it a little hard at the start to get everything going. Now I have had almost half the year under the belt, I have made really good relationships with all the guys in the team and I'm fitting in really well," Matthews said of his start to the year. "Once I get that one big one, hopefully, it just keeps on rolling."
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- Matthews: I'd like to be as versatile as Van Avermaet
- Matthews closes out classics campaign with fourth at Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Readying for the Tour
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