Q& A: MICHAEL MATTHEWS & NICOLAS ROCHE
The two Sunweb riders talk living in Monaco, the Tour de France and first meeting each other
WHEN DID YOU TWO FIRST MEET? MICHAEL MATTHEWS: I think Nico wants to answer this one... NICHOLAS ROCHE: The first time I met Michael was in 2010. He was visiting Verese and we met for a panino with some other Australians and I thought he was a surfer guy coming on holiday, and then I realised he had just become world champion. It’s quite funny because sometimes you meet riders and you don’t really remember the first time you met them, but that day I just remember feeling so stupid when Simon Clarke told me, ‘This guy has just become world champion in the under-23s’. I was like, ‘Really? This guy looks like a surfer.’
Obviously our friendship over the years has grown and we have similar interests. When I came to Monaco we were not on the same teams but once in a while we would catch up, and once we were on the training rides we found out it was very easy to talk to each other. And then once I moved to the team [in 2019], at the beginning Michael was key to introducing me into the team, he spent a lot of time with me on camps and then we got to know each other one step more. Now it’s training partners, we go on holidays, we go on safaris together, we also ride bikes there too…
MM: You’re telling the story well, mate. NR: Well not a holiday then, we went on a training camp to South Africa but on the rest day we were just down the road from the safari.
MICHAEL WAS YOUR FIRST MEMORY OF NICO AS DISTINCTIVE AS HIS WAS OF YOU?
MM: I think I obviously knew Nico a lot better than he knew me. I’d watched him on TV before and met him in Varese that time. For me to meet him then was honestly a big thing for me, to meet such a legend in cycling, and to now be such good friends with him is really great. I think we can really push each other to achieve good things. And we always have fun. Obviously we take cycling seriously but we try to make fun out of it at the same time by not taking it too serious, too mentally stressful. Nico definitely climbs much better than me but I’m probably faster, so we can race in all different aspects that push both of our abilities to get better in the probably quite weaker sides of our performance.
YOU’RE BOTH DIFFERENT TYPES OF RIDERS BUT YOU TRAIN REGULARLY TOGETHER. HOW DOES THAT WORK WHEN YOU MIGHT HAVE SUCH DIFFERENT RACE OBJECTIVES?
MM: It’s just one big race firstly [laughs]. We try and outdo each other in every discipline we ride together. For example, at the training camp in South Africa we had time trial efforts and we actually have the same coach, so that same day we both had time trial efforts. Nico opted to start first which for me was like chasing a rabbit, a carrot in front of me. I was making sure I was going to catch him no matter what. I wasn’t focussed on my power, or the effort. I was to catch Nico and pass him. Things like this. We just spur each other on and after, we have a laugh about it and try and beat each other again.
NR: This is the good thing about us, we’re not there to beat each other and say ‘I’m stronger than you,’ or show the biggest qualities. We know we’re doing it to help each other out. We’re doing it for fun. Obviously when it comes to the sprint against Michael, nine times out of 10 - only if his chain slips I can beat him - I get my bottom kicked, but I still go for it and commit to it. Michael does beat me on the climbs once in a while, too.
For me it’s definitely helped me progress a lot, because one of the things that I lacked over the last few years was that little acceleration and sprint. I was so much into pulling into that leader’s mountain train that I was always doing the same type of work, always being very focussed on my 20-minute efforts on the climb. Where now our training is much more fun and dynamic. When you’ve been doing this sport professionally, for me, for 16 years, it’s great to have a training partner like Michael because it’s not just about going and pressing set. We have fun. We go home and look at our watts and look, this watt here, this watt there. There are also days where we take it easy, lucky enough!
WHO’S GOT THE BEST RECORD, THEN, IN YOUR HEAD- TO- HEADS?
NR: Michael I guess, just because you kick my bottom in the time trials as well. MM: I think you win on the Strava records. NR: I’m good with Strava.
MM: I don’t have a Strava KoM, that’s for sure. If you look around here [Monaco] Nico’s got pretty much every single one, so he wins that competition. Straight up racing, I think I might have the edge.
DO YOU HAVE FAVOURITE ROUTES YOU GO ON AROUND MONACO?
MM: We basically do a lot of climbing, don’t we? We climb straight out of Monaco and just head into the mountains and play from there. We have so many options of
loops around here. For cyclists it’s like a playground, it’s just endless, the amount of possibilities. Pretty much most days, it’s a similar loop, just adjusted with a few climbs in the middle.
NR: We do a lot of climbing, I think even for the two of us we find that training is easier when we go up the climbs. We find it less boring. We really work on the climbs, harder climbs, easier climbs, but it’s mainly the mountains all the time.
MM: It’s more safe around here too, I guess. You’re away from cars and people. I think along the water in the South of France and the other part of Italy it’s quite unsafe along the water, especially in the summer. You just find yourself stopping and starting all the time. We find it much easier to just head up the hill and get into the mountains where there are no people.
YOU’VE RACED AT THE TOUR DE FRANCE A NUMBER OF TIMES, AND LAST YEAR WAS THE FIRST IN THE SAME TEAM. HOW HAVE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE RACE CHANGED OVER THE YEARS? THE TOUR IS NOT ALWAYS KIND TO RIDERS...
NR: I would say the Tour de France has two key moments; the presentation the day before the race and the Champs-Élysées at the end. All the middle is pure pain. Because even on the Champs-Élysées until you cross the line it’s painful. It’s not as easy as you think. It’s not a parade, it’s a full-on race and for the sprinters it’s a dream, 100 per cent, to win on the Champs-Élysées. It is not a fun race, it is fast…
The Tour has been good to me, it’s been cruel to me. I’ve had many very, very close wins, but was never able to win. I’ve had two seconds, two thirds [Ed - one third], it’s just always something missing. The Tour is a career changer, if those were wins it’s a completely different aspect of your life, of your career. You suddenly become a Tour de France stage winner - people ask, ‘Did you ride the Tour de France?’ when you say you’re a cyclist. You say yes or no, and then the second question is, ‘Did you win a stage?’ So far I’ve done a lot of the first question; I’m still missing the second one.
The Tour is fantastic, there’s no other race like it, but when you’re in it, it’s not enjoyable, with the team, the pressure, but that’s part of the job. When the Tour is over this is what you look back at...there are a lot of stories to be made at the Tour, the only thing is when you’re living them they’re almost all a nightmare!
MICHAEL, YOU’VE WON THREE STAGES, BUT HOW IS IT COPING WITH THE EXPECTATION AT THE TOUR?
MM: Getting that first stage win is probably the hardest, because of all the stress and pressure, people expecting it. But like Nico said, it’s the Tour de France, everything needs to come together. You also need a bit of luck. It’s not necessarily just the legs or your capabilities that are going to give you the stage. When you win a stage there it really changes you as a cyclist. When you say you’ve ridden the Tour de France, have you won a stage, and you can say yes I’ve won a stage at the Tour de France they almost look at you differently, even though it’s just a bike race. It does change the perception of you; that’s what puts so much pressure and stress, all that around it - the expectations. To deliver it is special.
HAVE YOUR PERSPECTIVES ON THE RACE CHANGED OVER THE YEARS?
NR: No, I still go there with the same knots in my stomach, the same stress pre-race, the same stress of organising my suitcase and preparing everything, the build-up, the adrenaline. That hasn’t changed in me, and I think that’s also one of the signs why I can’t get away from this sport. The day I don’t get excited about going to France I must do something else. For now I still go there with my eyes full of dreams. I still haven’t won my stage so I’m like a neo-pro dreaming this year is maybe going to be the year.
My role has changed over the years, I went from helping in my first year, a breakaway rider, to GC rider two or three years in the middle, then back to helping bigger GC riders, to helping supporting the early work in sprints to breakaways - I’ve literally done everything. I even went for the sprints myself at some point. My role has changed, but my will to go to the Tour, the importance I give to the Tour…for me when I get my calendar it’s like,
I want to go to the Tour - there’s no Giro, Vuelta... I do the Tour then I’ll see what the team wants me to do.
MICHAEL YOU’VE HAD AS MANY HIGHS AS YOU’VE HAD DIFFICULT MOMENTS AT THE RACE. WHAT KEEPS YOU GOING BACK EACH YEAR?
MM: It’s the world’s biggest race, and it ‘s the world’s biggest scene for cycling. That’s what really brings us all back, all the best guys in the world are going to be there in their best shape. Obviously everyone’s targeting different things during the Tour de France but if you’re on that start line you’re considered one of
the best bike riders in the world. My wife made me a book of the 2017 Tour de France when I was able to win the green and looking back at those memories we made during those three weeks,
I’ll keep them forever. You remember other races but how televised the Tour de France is and how accessible it is to watch over and over again, it definitely makes the memories even easier to remember and more special.
Going into the race, I’m a little bit less stressed now than I used to be.
I think I was maybe overly stressed the first few years, putting too much pressure on myself. That didn’t really work out. Going there with a little bit less stress on my shoulders, taking it day by day is a better approach.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE EACH OTHER AS TEAM- MATES?
MM: Nico…? NR: We definitely support each other not just on the bike, keeping the motivation going and help each other believe that whatever we’re going for we can do it. It’s quite a pity we haven’t raced more, and I would have liked to race more, because I feel that a lot of the times I can be in great support for Michael on some of those races. For example, Tour de Suisse, Dauphiné, which are at the same time. I feel like I could be a better help on one side than the other… I feel there are moments in the year where the team could more use our friendship and the way we work together.
MM: We complement each other.
I can help Nico in the stages he wants to go for, and he can help me in mine. That’s something that’s quite special in cycling, to be able to help each other in different disciplines, to try to achieve different goals.