Tadej Poga\u010dar is the man to beat as the 116th Tour de France gets underway in Barcelona on Saturday. Here’s everything you need to know.<\/p>\n
“If you’d told me three months ago that I would be lining up for the Tour de France, I don’t think I would have believed you,” Matthews said via a team statement when the squad was announced.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’ve worked really hard to get back together with the team in time for the Tour and I’m really looking forward to being back.”<\/p>\n
The 35-year-old Jayco AlUla rider will undertake his ninth Tour de France this year, a race where he has had considerable success, winning the green jersey in 2017 as well as a total of four stages.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But several times over the past 14 months, Matthews must have wondered if he’d ever reach this level again.<\/p>\n
![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783123212_43_387222ab9545ae7414febf5741055b94.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Michael Matthews is overjoyed to be back on the bike, at the world’s biggest race. (Getty Images: Antonio Baixauli)<\/p>\n
This time last year, Matthews was mid-way through a three-month course of blood thinners after a pulmonary embolism was discovered during a training camp<\/a>.<\/p>\n Matthews, fresh off winning German one day classic Eschborn-Frankfurt in May<\/a>, suffered a sharp stabbing pain in his chest while training.<\/p>\n He put it down to allergies.<\/p>\n When he collapsed off his bike and was taken to hospital, his team and doctors quickly discovered it was much worse.<\/p>\n “The doctors said that if I’d done the same training at altitude for another two to three days, I probably would’ve not survived,” Matthews told Rouleur at the time, underlining the severity of the situation.<\/p>\n If that wasn’t bad enough, this year Matthews once again suffered a huge set back, crashing at 50 kilometres per hour into a fire truck while training.<\/p>\n Michael Matthews broke both his wrists and severed tendons in his thumbs. (Supplied: Instagram\/@Bling90)<\/p>\n The truck was travelling 50km\/h in the opposite direction to Matthews when they collided, a combination that could have been fatal.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, Matthews still suffered grievous injuries in the incident, including an open arm fracture, cut thumb tendons, two broken wrists and a sinus fracture that required stitches to his face.<\/p>\n “It was much worse, let’s say, than everyone had thought,” Matthews told the Detour podcast.<\/p>\n “I hit a fire truck at pretty much 100km\/h, I was doing 50 and the truck was doing 50.<\/p>\n “That obviously wasn’t said but at the same time we didn’t want people to \u2026 worry, we just wanted people to know that there was a bad incident but not to the extent of exactly what it was until we were ready to put that out there, what actually happened, and to make sure I was fit and healthy before we said exactly what happened.<\/p>\n “With a crash like that, it could have ended my career, or even worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I might not be here right now. I’m extremely blessed to be able to tell the story and how lucky I was.”<\/p>\n Michael Matthews is back in purple for the Tour, after a successful return at the Tour de Suisse. (Getty Images: Tim de Waele)<\/p>\n![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/f7676d5314c5fa37a95aa8c7f8a53cef.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6cce7031975c9653b0f067a7ea48c0ac.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n