His first UCI WorldTour win, just three days into his first UCI WorldTour race; Michael Matthews is certainly not hanging around when it comes to showing what he can do. Three and a half months after he won the world under 23 championship and a fortnight after he scooped stage two of the Jayco Bay Classic, the young Rabobank rider thundered to success on stage three of the Santos Tour Down Under.
Matthews timed his finishing effort perfectly and hit the line well ahead of defending race champion Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto), with Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad) netting third, a time bonus, and with it the ochre jersey of race leader.
"It's unbelievable," said Matthews, beaming. "This is probably one of the most difficult stages I've ridden and one of the most difficult in this tour. It's really great to win this one and thanks to my team. They worked very well today (and) I couldn't have done without them.
"With about a lap to go I wasn't feeling too good, but my team came back and geed me up, they were amazing to me the whole race, getting me motivated for the sprint, saying I could do it," said Matthews. He said that Tom Leezer did a lot of work to put him into the perfect position; things worked out well after that.
“With about one kilometre to go, I felt pretty good and I had a look around,” he continued. “There were only a couple of sprinters there. I was a bit worried about Gossy because he's really fast and he's won (a stage) already, but I had the legs in the end.”
Goss missed out on what would have been his second win of the race, but he had perfect compensation in taking back the race lead once again. He finished well ahead of Robbie McEwen, who had topped the standings last night, and who now drops to third behind Goss and Greipel
His performance came despite a puncture heading in towards the finish. “The last ten kilometres were super, super hard, I had a super-hard chase, we couldn't get the back wheel into my bike, so I had to change to my spare bike. I had a long chase just to get back and there was no respite on that hill, it was pretty nasty.
"(But) I wasn't too panicked, there were still 10-12km to go, I had time to get back in," he continued. "The other guys are super-strong, Hayden Roulston did a great job for me today, Bernie Eisel did a great job to get me back to the bunch in the last few kilometres. [But] I had nothing more to beat Matthews. He was too fast, too strong."
More attacks
As has been the case thus far on the race, several riders seized the chance to go free early on and try to build a big enough lead to stay clear. Today was the turn of Aleksandr Kuschynski (Katusha), Luis Pasamaontes (Movistar), Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Australia's Luke Durbirdge (UniSA-Australia) who pushed ahead and had almost three minutes by the time Kuschynski won the first Jayco intermediate sprint at McLaren Flat (31.3km).
The lead grew to five minutes en route to sprint two, where Kuschynski won again. Durbridge then took top points at Germantown Hill (79km), beating Pasamaontes and de Gendt to the summit.
The four leaders raced through the finish line at Stirling for the first time and there the lead was only one minute 40 seconds ahead of a trio of chasers. The peloton was a further 29 seconds back. It continued to close in and with one lap to go, everything was back together and setting things up for an uphill sprint.
Matthews was clearly quickest but with Goss nabbing third, he retook the lead. “It was a very hard way to get the jersey back, but I'm happy to be back in it," he said afterwards, sounding increasingly confident. "We'll be right for the rest of the week. Ysterday was a bit disappointing, but you can't help crashes (and) there were a lot of people worse off than me.”
Greipel also has his sights set on the overall classification and will be hunting for a stage win. He felt that he didn’t get a full shot at it today, and will be doubly motivated now. "I am just upset because I couldn't do my sprint like I wanted to,” he said. “The lead up guys boxed me in and I was next to the barrier and I couldn't launch my sprint, so it is upsetting for the team," said Greipel.
The race continues tomorrow with a lumpy 124 kilometre stage from Norwood to Strathalbyn. The German is trying to take his third overall victory in the race this year and remains focussed. “There are three stages to go. We still have an opportunity to win overall, and that's what we're going for.”
Santos Tour Down Under (UCI World Tour), January 18 – 23:
January 20, Stage 3: Unley – Stirling:
1, Michael Matthews (Rabobank Cycling Team) 129 kilometres in 3 hours 11 mins 47 secs
2, André Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
3, Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad)
4, Simon Gerrans (Team Sky)
5, Luke Roberts (UNI SA - Australia)
6, Francisco Ventoso (Movistar Team)
7, Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
8, Allan Davis (Astana)
9, Blel Kadri (AG2R La Mondiale)
10, Simone Ponzi (Liquigas-Cannondale)
11, Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing Team)
12, Stijn Vandenbergh (Katusha Team)
13, Manuele Mori (Lampre - ISD)
14, Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar Team)
15, Davide Vigano (Leopard Trek)
16, Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
17, Robbie McEwen (Team Radio Shack)
18, Ben Hermans (Team Radio Shack)
19, Baden Cooke (Saxo Bank Sungard)
20, Julien Loubet (AG2R La Mondiale)
21, Greg Henderson (Team Sky)
22, Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar Team)
23, Ben Swift (Team Sky)
24, Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale)
25, David Lopez (Movistar Team) at 7 secs
26, Francesco Reda (Quick Step Cycling Team)
27, Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
28, Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Cannondale)
29, Inaki Isasi (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
30, Addy Engels (Quick Step Cycling Team)
31, Ivan Velasco (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
32, Mathieu Perget (AG2R La Mondiale)
33, Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
34, Laurens ten Dam (Rabobank Cycling Team)
35, Cameron Wurf (Liquigas-Cannondale)
36, Simon Zahner (BMC Racing Team)
37, Cameron Meyer (Team Garmin-Cervelo)
38, Yuriy Krivtsov (AG2R La Mondiale)
39, Andriy Grivko (Astana)
40, Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
41, Mathew Hayman (Team Sky)
42, Serguei Ivanov (Katusha Team)
43, Brett Lancaster (Team Garmin-Cervelo)
44, Mitchell Docker (UNI SA - Australia)
45, Wesley Sulzberger (UNI SA - Australia)
46, Hayden Roulston (HTC-Highroad)
47, Stuart O'Grady (Leopard Trek)
48, Jack Bobridge (Team Garmin-Cervelo) at 13 secs
49, Rob Ruijgh (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
50, Julien Vermote (Quick Step Cycling Team)
51, Jonathan Cantwell (UNI SA - Australia)
52, Steve Houanard (AG2R La Mondiale)
53, Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)
54, Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team)
55, Davide Cimolai (Liquigas-Cannondale)
56, Tanel Kangert (Astana)
57, Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
58, Michael Rogers (Team Sky)
59, Juan Horrach (Katusha Team)
60, Kristijan Koren (Liquigas-Cannondale) at 25 secs
61, Manuel Cardoso (Team Radio Shack) at 31 secs
62, Tom Leezer (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 32 secs
63, Alan Marangoni (Liquigas-Cannondale) at mins 46 secs
64, Richie Porte (Saxo Bank Sungard)
65, Jos van Emden (Rabobank Cycling Team)
66, William Clarke (Leopard Trek)
67, Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha Team)
68, Nicki Sörensen (Saxo Bank Sungard) at 50 secs
69, Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 54 secs
70, Simon Clarke (Astana) at 57 secs
71, Alberto Ongarato (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
72, Travis Meyer (Team Garmin-Cervelo) at 59 secs
73, Alessandro Spezialetti (Lampre - ISD) at 1 min 6 secs
74, David Tanner (Saxo Bank Sungard) at 1 min 10 secs
75, Gerald Ciolek (Quick Step Cycling Team)
76, Adam Hansen (Omega Pharma-Lotto) at 1 min 19 secs
77, Angel Madrazo (Movistar Team) at 1 min 20 secs
78, Jurgen Van De Walle (Omega Pharma-Lotto) at 1 min 48 secs
79, Marcel Sieberg (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
80, Olivier Kaisen (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
81, Bruno Pires (Leopard Trek) at 2 mins 41 secs
82, Aitor Perez Arrieta (Lampre - ISD)
83, Robbie Hunter (Team Radio Shack) at 3 mins 11 secs
84, Lance Armstrong (Team Radio Shack)
85, Timothy Roe (BMC Racing Team)
86, Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
87, Luis Pasamontes (Movistar Team)
88, Michael Hepburn (UNI SA - Australia)
89, Vicente Reynes (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
90, Tyler Farrar (Team Garmin-Cervelo)
91, Stefan Denifl (Leopard Trek)
92, Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy (Astana)
93, Alexander Kristoff (BMC Racing Team)
94, Amaël Moinard (BMC Racing Team)
95, Dimitri Champion (AG2R La Mondiale)
96, Jon Izaguirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
97, Nikolay Trusov (Katusha Team) at 4 mins 19 secs
98, Luke Durbridge (UNI SA - Australia)
99, Maxim Gourov (Astana)
100, Alfredo Balloni (Lampre - ISD)
101, Martin Pedersen (Leopard Trek)
102, Vitaliy Buts (Lampre - ISD) at 5 mins 15 secs
103, Davide Malacarne (Quick Step Cycling Team) at 5 mins 28 secs
104, Daniel Sesma (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 6 mins 7 secs
105, Julian Dean (Team Garmin-Cervelo) at 6 mins 14 secs
106, Graeme Brown (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 6 mins 36 secs
107, Pieter Weening (Rabobank Cycling Team)
108, Kristof Goddaert (AG2R La Mondiale) at 6 mins 39 secs
109, Sebastian Haedo (Saxo Bank Sungard)
110, Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana)
111, Brian Vandborg (Saxo Bank Sungard)
112, Marco Bandiera (Quick Step Cycling Team)
113, Aleksandr Kuschynski (Katusha Team)
114, Matthew Wilson (Team Garmin-Cervelo)
115, Bernhard Eisel (HTC-Highroad) at 7 mins 20 secs
116, Danny Pate (HTC-Highroad)
117, Martin Mortensen (Leopard Trek)
118, John Murphy (BMC Racing Team) at 9 mins 26 secs
119, Markel Irizar (Team Radio Shack) at 10 mins 26 secs
120, Juan José Haedo (Saxo Bank Sungard)
121, Mark Renshaw (HTC-Highroad)
122, Bert Grabsch (HTC-Highroad)
123, Francesco Chicchi (Quick Step Cycling Team)
124, Daniele Righi (Lampre - ISD)
125, Gregory Rast (Team Radio Shack)
126, Eduard Vorganov (Katusha Team)
127, Coen Vermeltfoort (Rabobank Cycling Team)
128, Joost Van Leijen (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
129, José Vicente Garcia (Movistar Team) at 12 mins 29 secs
130, Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad)
131, Matteo Bono (Lampre - ISD)
Teams:
1, Movistar, 9 hours 35 mins 21 secs
2, Team Sky
3, AG2R La Mondiale, at 7 secs
4, Liquigas-Cannondale
5, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 14 secs
6, Vacansoleil-DCM
7, UNI SA - Australia
8, BMC, at 20 secs
9, Astana
10, Katusha
11, Quickstep, at 27 secs
12, Garmin-Cervélo
13, Radio Shack, at 31 secs
14, Rabobank, at 39 secs
15, Leopard Trek, at 53 secs
16, Omega Pharma-Lotto, at 1 min 26 secs
17, Saxo Bank Sungard, at 1 min 36 secs
18, Lampre – ISD, at 3 mins 47 secs
19, HTC-Highroad, at 7 mins 27 secs
Sprint 1:
1, Aleksandr Kuschynski (Katusha Team) 6 pts
2, Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) 4
3, Luke Durbridge (UNI SA - Australia) 2
Sprint 2:
1, Aleksandr Kuschynski (Katusha Team) 6 pts
2, Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) 4
3, Luis Pasamontes (Movistar Team) 2
KOM at Germantown Hill:
1, Luke Durbridge (UNI SA - Australia) 16 pts
2, Luis Pasamontes (Movistar Team) 12
3, Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) 8
4, Aleksandr Kuschynski (Katusha Team) 6
5, Timothy Roe (BMC Racing Team) 4
General classification after three stages:
1, Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad) at 9 hours 56 mins 25 secs
2, André Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) at 2 secs
3, Robbie McEwen (Team Radio Shack) at 4 secs
4, Michael Matthews (Rabobank Cycling Team)
5, Ben Swift (Team Sky)
6, Allan Davis (Astana) at 14 secs
7, Francisco Ventoso (Movistar Team)
8, Manuele Mori (Lampre - ISD)
9, Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing Team)
10, Greg Henderson (Team Sky)
11, Luke Roberts (UNI SA - Australia)
12, Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale)
13, Blel Kadri (AG2R La Mondiale)
14, Simone Ponzi (Liquigas-Cannondale)
15, Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
16, Simon Gerrans (Team Sky)
17, Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
18, Davide Vigano (Leopard Trek)
19, Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar Team)
20, Julien Loubet (AG2R La Mondiale)
21, Ben Hermans (Team Radio Shack)
22, Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar Team)
23, Baden Cooke (Saxo Bank Sungard)
24, Stijn Vandenbergh (Katusha Team)
25, Mitchell Docker (UNI SA - Australia) at 15 secs
26, Mathieu Perget (AG2R La Mondiale) at 18 secs
27, Simon Zahner (BMC Racing Team)
28, Yuriy Krivtsov (AG2R La Mondiale) at 19 secs
29, Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 21 secs
30, Inaki Isasi (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
31, Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Cannondale)
32, Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
33, Francesco Reda (Quick Step Cycling Team)
34, Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
35, Wesley Sulzberger (UNI SA - Australia)
36, Stuart O'Grady (Leopard Trek)
37, Ivan Velasco (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
38, David Lopez (Movistar Team)
39, Andriy Grivko (Astana)
40, Laurens ten Dam (Rabobank Cycling Team)
41, Cameron Wurf (Liquigas-Cannondale)
42, Addy Engels (Quick Step Cycling Team)
43, Mathew Hayman (Team Sky)
44, Serguei Ivanov (Katusha Team)
45, Hayden Roulston (HTC-Highroad)
46, Cameron Meyer (Team Garmin-Cervelo)
47, Brett Lancaster (Team Garmin-Cervelo)
48, Jonathan Cantwell (UNI SA - Australia) at 27 secs
49, Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
50, Rob Ruijgh (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
51, Steve Houanard (AG2R La Mondiale)
52, Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team)
53, Juan Horrach (Katusha Team)
54, Tanel Kangert (Astana)
55, Julien Vermote (Quick Step Cycling Team)
56, Jack Bobridge (Team Garmin-Cervelo)
57, Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)
58, Davide Cimolai (Liquigas-Cannondale) at 44 secs
59, Manuel Cardoso (Team Radio Shack) at 45 secs
60, Tom Leezer (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 46 secs
61, Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha Team) at 1 min 0 secs
62, William Clarke (Leopard Trek)
63, Richie Porte (Saxo Bank Sungard)
64, Kristijan Koren (Liquigas-Cannondale) at 1 min 1 secs
65, Nicki Sörensen (Saxo Bank Sungard) at 1 min 4 secs
66, Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 1 min 5 secs
67, Alberto Ongarato (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 1 min 11 secs
68, David Tanner (Saxo Bank Sungard) at 1 min 20 secs
69, Gerald Ciolek (Quick Step Cycling Team) at 1 min 24 secs
70, Alan Marangoni (Liquigas-Cannondale) at 1 min 28 secs
71, Angel Madrazo (Movistar Team) at 1 min 34 secs
72, Marcel Sieberg (Omega Pharma-Lotto) at 2 mins 20 secs
73, Alessandro Spezialetti (Lampre - ISD) at 2 mins 40 secs
74, Jos van Emden (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 2 mins 47 secs
75, Michael Rogers (Team Sky) at 2 mins 54 secs
76, Bruno Pires (Leopard Trek) at 2 mins 55 secs
77, Aitor Perez Arrieta (Lampre - ISD)
78, Luis Pasamontes (Movistar Team) at 3 mins 24 secs
79, Amaël Moinard (BMC Racing Team) at 3 mins 25 secs
80, Jon Izaguirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
81, Lance Armstrong (Team Radio Shack)
82, Robbie Hunter (Team Radio Shack)
83, Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy (Astana)
84, Stefan Denifl (Leopard Trek)
85, Michael Hepburn (UNI SA - Australia)
86, Alexander Kristoff (BMC Racing Team)
87, Dimitri Champion (AG2R La Mondiale)
88, Adam Hansen (Omega Pharma-Lotto) at 3 mins 32 secs
89, Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 3 mins 49 secs
90, Simon Clarke (Astana) at 4 mins 24 secs
91, Luke Durbridge (UNI SA - Australia) at 4 mins 32 secs
92, Nikolay Trusov (Katusha Team) at 4 mins 33 secs
93, Martin Pedersen (Leopard Trek)
94, Alfredo Balloni (Lampre - ISD)
95, Timothy Roe (BMC Racing Team) at 4 mins 49 secs
96, Travis Meyer (Team Garmin-Cervelo) at 4 mins 55 secs
97, Vicente Reynes (Omega Pharma-Lotto) at 5 mins 2 secs
98, Maxim Gourov (Astana) at 5 mins 18 secs
99, Vitaliy Buts (Lampre - ISD) at 5 mins 29 secs
100, Davide Malacarne (Quick Step Cycling Team) at 5 mins 42 secs
101, Jurgen Van De Walle (Omega Pharma-Lotto) at 5 mins 44 secs
102, Olivier Kaisen (Omega Pharma-Lotto) at 5 mins 52 secs
103, Daniel Sesma (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 6 mins 21 secs
104, Julian Dean (Team Garmin-Cervelo) at 6 mins 28 secs
105, Graeme Brown (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 6 mins 46 secs
106, Aleksandr Kuschynski (Katusha Team) at 6 mins 47 secs
107, Kristof Goddaert (AG2R La Mondiale) at 6 mins 53 secs
108, Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana)
109, Marco Bandiera (Quick Step Cycling Team)
110, Matthew Wilson (Team Garmin-Cervelo)
111, Brian Vandborg (Saxo Bank Sungard)
112, Tyler Farrar (Team Garmin-Cervelo) at 7 mins 7 secs
113, Martin Mortensen (Leopard Trek) at 7 mins 34 secs
114, Sebastian Haedo (Saxo Bank Sungard) at 8 mins 26 secs
115, Danny Pate (HTC-Highroad) at 9 mins 30 secs
116, John Murphy (BMC Racing Team) at 9 mins 40 secs
117, Eduard Vorganov (Katusha Team) at 10 mins 40 secs
118, Mark Renshaw (HTC-Highroad)
119, Francesco Chicchi (Quick Step Cycling Team)
120, Markel Irizar (Team Radio Shack)
121, Joost Van Leijen (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
122, Gregory Rast (Team Radio Shack)
123, Bernhard Eisel (HTC-Highroad) at 10 mins 58 secs
124, Coen Vermeltfoort (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 11 mins 25 secs
125, Bert Grabsch (HTC-Highroad) at 11 mins 51 secs
126, Pieter Weening (Rabobank Cycling Team) at 12 mins 3 secs
127, Juan José Haedo (Saxo Bank Sungard) at 12 mins 13 secs
128, Daniele Righi (Lampre - ISD) at 13 mins 29 secs
129, José Vicente Garcia (Movistar Team) at 14 mins 44 secs
130, Matteo Bono (Lampre - ISD) at 15 mins 32 secs
131, Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) at 16 mins 30 secs
Teams classification:
1, Team Sky, 29 hours 49 mins 57 secs
2, Movistar
3, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 7 secs
4, AG2R La Mondiale
5, UNI SA – Australia, at 14 secs
6, Vacansoleil-DCM
7, Euskaltel-Euskadi
8, BMC, at 20 secs
9, Katusha
10, Astana
11, Quickstep, at 27 secs
12, Garmin-Cervélo,
13, Radio Shack, at 31 secs
14, Rabobank, at 39 secs
15, Leopard Trek, at 53 secs
16, Omega Pharma-Lotto, at 1 min 26 secs
17, Saxo Bank Sungard, at 1 min 36 secs
18, Lampre – ISD, at 3 mins 47 secs
19, HTC-Highroad, at 7 mins 27 secs
Sprint classification:
1, Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad) 12 pts
2, Aleksandr Kuschynski (Katusha Team) 12
3, Mitchell Docker (UNI SA - Australia) 12
4, André Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) 12
5, Robbie McEwen (Team Radio Shack) 10
6, Michael Matthews (Rabobank Cycling Team) 8
7, Ben Swift (Team Sky) 8
8, David Tanner (Saxo Bank Sungard) 8
9, Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) 8
10, Mathieu Perget (AG2R La Mondiale) 6
11, Simon Zahner (BMC Racing Team) 6
12, Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 6
13, Simon Clarke (Astana) 6
14, Yuriy Krivtsov (AG2R La Mondiale) 4
15, Graeme Brown (Rabobank Cycling Team) 4
16, Luis Pasamontes (Movistar Team) 2
17, Luke Durbridge (UNI SA - Australia) 2
Mountains classification:
1, Luke Roberts (UNI SA - Australia) 22 pts
2, Mitchell Docker (UNI SA - Australia) 16
3, Luke Durbridge (UNI SA - Australia) 16
4, Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 12
5, Yuriy Krivtsov (AG2R La Mondiale) 12
6, David Tanner (Saxo Bank Sungard) 12
7, Luis Pasamontes (Movistar Team) 12
8, Julien Loubet (AG2R La Mondiale) 8
9, Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) 8
10, Blel Kadri (AG2R La Mondiale) 6
11, Aleksandr Kuschynski (Katusha Team) 6
12, Simon Zahner (BMC Racing Team) 4
13, Timothy Roe (BMC Racing Team 4