Matthews knows Monument hunt “with Pogacar and Van der Poel” will be difficult

“I still believe I can win the green jersey,” Matthews said, sounding confident. “With fewer pure sprint stages in recent years, I still believe I have it in me.” The winner of the 2017 points classification added, however, that he does not expect it to happen this year. “To win the green jersey — just like the yellow jersey — you need a full team committed to that goal. I probably won’t get that this year.”

Another major target for the experienced Australian is Milan–Sanremo, but that means taking on some of the biggest names in the sport. “With Pogacar and Van der Poel in the race, it will obviously be difficult, but I still have belief. I’ve been very close before,” Matthews said, referring to his second place in 2024.

Rather than being discouraged by the presence of riders like Pogacar, Matthews says it actually fuels him. “It pushes me to get the best out of myself every season, so that this year I can compete with those kinds of guys.”

What does demotivate him, Matthews says, is the UCI points ranking system. “It makes cycling more and more of an individual sport,” he said firmly. “I’m 100% against this system.”

“Take Astana, for example — but there are multiple teams doing it — where they sprint with five riders for a top-ten place.” For Matthews, it also hurts how the sport is perceived. “You try to show that cycling is a team sport, but when three teammates are sprinting against each other, that’s hard to explain to someone who doesn’t watch cycling every day.”

According to Matthews, the system also discourages smaller teams from sending their best riders to the biggest races. “For smaller teams, it can sometimes be better to race in Asia than to take your best riders to fight guys like Pogacar. That can’t be the intention,” the Australian concluded.

Matthews believes the sport itself is changing, too. “Pure sprinters like Cavendish are dying out. There are almost no sprinters left who don’t race Classics or other one-day races,” he said, pointing to riders like Jasper Philipsen. “Philipsen finished third in Roubaix — you didn’t see Cavendish doing that in his era.”

In Matthews’ view, part of that is simply down to fewer opportunities. “Back in the day you might have had ten sprint stages in the Tour — now sometimes it’s only four or five. And even in those sprint stages, teams like UAE ride hard over every climb. It’s not worth it anymore to only be fast.”

Still, he also sees the upside. “That’s how a sport evolves. Take Milan–Sanremo: five years ago it was basically a bunch sprint. Now you arrive in small groups — or sometimes even solo.” Matthews narrowly lost the sprint to Philipsen in 2024, and it still stings.

“People still tell me I could’ve won if I’d closed the door harder, but I think I sprinted fairly. Philipsen might have done it differently the other way around, but that’s not my style,” Matthews laughed.