Michael Matthews endured one of the most difficult moments of his long career and arguably of his life when he suffered a pulmonary embolism in June. Yet true to character, the Australian is already training hard for 2026, fueled by a renewed enthusiasm for cycling and for life.
He is already doing longer rides and efforts at the Jayco-AlUla training camp in Spain. “December camps are not what they used to be, that’s for sure,” Matthews joked during an exclusive interview with Cyclingnews.
You may like
“I didn’t know if I was going to die that night or survive”
Matthews was training at altitude in Livigno, on the Italian-Swiss border, in June when he suffered a pulmonary embolism. He was finishing a three-week block of work and ready to target stages at the Tour de France.
Yet he gradually felt worse and struggled to complete a final training session or even go for a post-ride walk. He heeded advice from his wife to go for blood checks, and doctors suddenly insisted he stay in the hospital as he was treated with blood thinners. He was lucky the embolism didn’t reach his brain.
“It was probably one of the most scary things I’ve ever had to deal with in my life,” Matthews admitted.
You may like
“I was suddenly in hospital, and I didn’t know if I was going to die that night or survive. The doctors said that if I’d kept training, I would have killed myself within two days.”
Matthews needed to take blood-thinning medicines for three months, but doctors told him there was no risk of a repeat embolism. It left a mark on his racing calendar and season hopes, but there do not appear to be any mental scares or fears for the future.
“I feel like it’s a second opportunity for me in cycling because I realised my career could have been done,” Matthews said.
“I feel it’s a second chance for me to show what I’m really, really capable of. That’s what I kept thinking when I was training to come back. I was obviously scared, but was so happy that I was able to still ride my bike.
“I still feel like I’m 25 and I’m enjoying my second youth. I’m still attacking my teammates out in training, and I’m normally the one that wants to do the extra training. The motivation is definitely still there, and I’ve a massive smile on my face every time I get up in the morning.”
Matthews had to miss the Tour de France and be extremely careful in training while taking blood thinners, but he made a comeback at the Bretagne Classic at the end of August and even finished eighth in the sprint.
Michael Matthews (Image credit: SWPix)
He then raced every time he could, all the way to the Japan Cup in mid-October. He won a second rainbow jersey with Australia in the Mixed Relay team time trial at the World Championships and even went in the early break at Il Lombardia, spending 198km on the attack.
“I was just so happy to pin a number on again,” Matthews said.
He will take the same enthusiasm into the 2026 season.
He is expected to have a gradual European build-up to the new season and so will not travel to Australia for the Tour Down Under. However, the goals remain the same, with serious ambitions for the Spring Classics, all the way from Milan-San Remo to Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
He hopes to return to the Tour de France to target stages, and the road world championships in Montreal in September are a huge goal. He has won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec three times and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal in 2018.
“The off-season went really well, and I felt really good on the bike straight away, even though I had four weeks off. I think it’s probably the best I felt in December, so hopefully there are good things to come this year,” Matthews said.
Cyclingnews highlighted Matthews’ impressive but cruel Milan-San Remo record. He has ridden La Classicissima 12 times, finished in the top ten seven times and was second in 2024, when his sunglasses fell off in the Via Roma sprint, and he lost to Jasper Philpsen by just a few millimetres.
“I suppose I have a love-hate relationship with Milan-San Remo,” Matthews admitted.
“It’s obviously a race that suits me, and it’s obviously a race that I’ve done well in the past, but it’s been cruel to me too. You just need your cards to fall in the right way, it’s quite a lottery, but it has never gone my way.”
Matthews’ friend and training companion, Tadej Pogačar, has yet to win Milan-San Remo, and he and UAE Team Emirates-XRG have made the race harder with attacks on the Cipressa in recent years.
“It’s become more of an attacking race where it used to be a sprinter’s race, but there’s nothing I can do about that,” Matthews said.
“I have to make sure that I’m ready to go when the attacks happen, react to the situation and hopefully somehow finish it off. It’s definitely my first big goal of 2026.”
Michael Matthews (Image credit: Getty Images)