Aussie rider’s perfect plans
MONTHS of planning came to fruition as Australian Michael Matthews burst clear to win stage 14 of the Tour de France yesterday.
The versatile rider from Canberra pulled away from Belgian Greg Van Avermaet on the steep finish and was able to sit up and soak in the moment as he cruised across the line after a 181.5km ride from Blagnac to Rodez.
Matthews said he had trained specifically for the last climb.
“I’ve been dreaming of winning like that since I started cycling,” said Matthews.
It was a second victory in as many days for Team Sunweb after Frenchman Warren Barguil delivered on Bastille Day in Foix.
Matthews revealed it had been his main goal since joining Team Sunweb at the start of the year, having spent four years with Australian-owned Orica-Scott, who have turned their focus from stage wins to pursuing the general classification.
“A lot of planning went into this day,” Matthews said.
“It wasn’t just today. It was weeks, months, to be able to deliver at the finish like that, from my whole team and my personal effort too.
“When you devote so much, you feel the pressure and you make mistakes. Hopefully I can relax now and make fewer mistakes.”
It was Matthews’ second Tour stage win after he claimed stage 10 in Revel last year.
The Australian refused to give up on the possibility of winning the points category’s green jersey, though his 30 points for the stage win left him in second place, still 99 points adrift of Marcel Kittel.
“He’s still a long way in front with flat sprints still to come and he’s won almost every one. It’s a lopsided battle for the green jersey this year with 50 points on the flat stages and 30 on the intermediate stages,” Matthews said.
“It was always going to be difficult for a rider like me to take green, but we’ll keep trying and see what happens, it’s not over until Paris, I guess.”
The general classification was again shaken up by a tricky finish, with Chris Froome regaining the yellow jersey after Fabio Aru was surprisingly found wanting at the death.
Two days after Froome looked vulnerable on the ultrasteep runway finale at Peyragudes, he returned to a position of dominance with a perfectly timed run-in, which caught Aru napping.
“In the last kilometre I was a bit too far back and I had to make too big an effort to get back on to the group. I got caught out,” Aru said.
Froome, who flipped a sixsecond deficit into an 18-second advantage, said pulling the maillot jaune back on was a “very nice surprise”.