Michael's Story
Michael Matthews has a high school physical education teacher to thank for his career as an elite cyclist.
Des Proctor, a PE teacher at Melrose High School in Canberra, saw something in Michael and convinced him to take part in a talent identification program at the ACT Academy of Sport.
Just six months after taking up cycling he was the U17 national champion.
Invited to train with the Australian Institute of Sport as a teenager, Michael won the U23 road race at the 2010 UCI Road World Championships in Geelong.
Michael turned pro the following year and quickly established a reputation as a punchy sprinter, excelling in rolling terrain and uphill sprints and beating some of the world’s fastest riders.
He opened his Grand Tour account in 2013, winning two stages of the Vuelta a Espana. The next year he won stage six of the Giro d’Italia and spent five days in the leader’s pink jersey.
In 2015 he won a stage of Paris-Nice, had success in Europe’s spring classics, finishing third in Milan-Sam Remo and the Amstel Gold Race, before claiming another stage in the Giro. Later that year, he won a silver medal for Australia at the UCI Road Race World Championships in Richmond, USA.
Michael got into a break on stage 10 of the Tour de France and hung on to win – giving him stage victories in all three Grand Tours.
The following year, after winning two stages of the Tour de France and the green points jersey, he was named Australian Cyclist of the Year.
At the 2017 UCI Road Race World Championships in Norway, he won a bronze medal in the road race and the world title in the team time trial with his trade team, Sunweb. The same team finished second the following year in Innsbruck, Austria.
In 2020, Michael switched to Team Bike Exchange. He won stages of the Tour de France and the Volta a Catalunya and claimed the points classification at the Tour de Suisse in 2022, before winning bronze in the road race and the team relay at the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong.
Michael won another Giro stage in 2023 and claimed the points classification at the Tour Down Under. He was second in Milan-San Remo early in 2024, pipped by Belgian Jasper Philipsen in a photo finish, and was relegated from third place in the Tour of Flanders for what judges considered was an improper sprint. He has a total of 10 Grand Tour stage wins to his name.
