Thus far, the 2017 Tour de France hasn't unfolded the way Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) expected. The Australian sprinter came as close as second place in the first six stages, but the 26-year-old came to the race with ambitions of standing on the podium's top step at least once.
Cyclingnews spoke with Matthews after stages 5 and 6 to learn how he was going in his third Grande Boucle.
"The stage win is always the priority," he said. "We came here with the idea of multiple stage wins. I have the legs to do it. I just need to be in the right position."
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This year is Matthews' first Tour in the colours of Team Sunweb, which he joined for the 2017 season, and it's clear that the lead-out train isn't quite on the rails just yet.
"The legs are really good. The head is really good," Matthews said while sitting on a bench in the shade after an extremely hot sixth stage. "We just need to be in a better position in the big sprints, because I'm not really a guy that's gonna go crazy in the last few Ks and risk my life for being a top five or a top three. We really need to work on nailing that lead-out. That's how I'll get the best result in the sprint."
After stage 3, with the uphill finish in Longwy, Matthews hinted that with a good lead out he might have scored a win. At the bottom of the climb he was back quite a distance from the head of the peloton. His teammate Simon Geschke was unable to close the gap himself, forcing Matthews to close it and then sprint.
Chasing a green dream
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