"I was probably one of the few that wasn't that far off the Van der Poel/Van Aert" - Michael Matthews regrets 15th place at Paris Olympics
Cycling
Michael Matthews had only just made his Olympic Games debut last weekend. Aged 33, it may come as a surprise, but the experienced rider hadn't been selected to represent Australia until Paris. Of course he didn't come just to enjoy the atmosphere as the ambition was to land on the final podium. However it wasn't to be as Matthews has to accept a result outside the top 10.
"It didn't go according to plan, let's say," Matthews told Cyclingnews. "Obviously we wanted to be fighting for a medal today (Saturday, ed.) so I'm obviously disappointed."
Occasionally we have seen some Australian jerseys, but objectively speaking they didn't particularly impress. Yet Matthews assures he was physically up to the job. "I think legs were good on the climb. I was probably one of the few that wasn't that far off the Van der Poel/Van Aert group, so obviously finishing where I finished is disappointing," he refers to his 15th place.
"I think when you have teams like Belgium with two clear leaders, they can run two game plans with Van Aert and Evenepoel. They can run Evenepoel with a long move and Van Aert for a reduced sprint. So I think that was key today but when you have options with four riders compared to three, it is more difficult to have that game plan."
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Adding to the numerous complaints of the race format, Matthews adds that unusual bib numbers made things extra complicated. "People are not in their normal jerseys, and with the different numbers - looking at the board from the motorbike, you have no idea who's in front. So it's a bit chaos, but it's the same for everybody," he said.
Matthews isn't giving up on his Olympic dream, already eyeing the 2028 Los Angeles. He'll already turn 37 at that time. "We'll see. I'm 33 now so let's see hopefully one more, another shot but I will have to wait a couple of years now."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- More to the point, it isn't his remaining goal.Renz08-11-2026
- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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