"The road race felt like I was in the Tour de France, or in Belgium or in Holland, where cyclists are gods" - Michael Matthews full of praise for supporters at Glasgow World Championships

The Glasgow World Championships have been the first of its kind, combining various different disciplines into days of non-stop cycling action in the Scottish city. Michael Matthews competed for Australia in the men's road and mixed relay team time-trial and has been full of praise for the thousands of fans at the roadside.

“It’s incredible,” the 32-year-old Team Jayco AlUla rider told road.cc. "Even just walking around Glasgow and seeing other Australians I watch on TV, like the BMXers, the downhillers, it feels like a mini Olympics. I’m a fan of loads of different cycling sports. I grew up doing BMX, downhill, moto-cross. So to see the worlds, and all these riders, cruising around Glasgow, it’s so cool. I met a lot of people I’m a massive fan of, and just integrating with different sports has been really incredible. It’s going to be interesting to see after this project how it went, but it’s really been like a cycling Olympics.”

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In terms of his own personal ambitions, Matthews was unable to recreate his podium challenge from last year in the men's elite road race in Wollongong. Despite the disappointment over his own performance, the support from the roadside has really resonated with the Australian.

“It was truly special. Obviously the UK has a massive cycling following. But honestly I didn’t expect this. The road race felt like I was in the Tour de France, or in Belgium or in Holland, where cyclists are gods,” he said. “We were treated to a very special race. Everyone had goosebumps when we entered the circuit. Even before the circuit, all through the towns, you could just see the kids really enjoying us riding past."

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"You could just feel the love, and that’s truly special. With the amount of negative things you see on social media these days – and you try to black it out obviously – but once the race started, having the fans cheering us on made the race even more special than just being another world championships,” Matthews concludes.

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