The Australian raced to victory in the Gran Premio Castell\u00f3n in Spain, proving himself strongest in what was a very long and very determined uphill sprint to the line.<\/p>\n
The importance of the win? It\u2019s his first individual triumph since returning from a potentially disastrous medical situation last summer.<\/p>\n
Matthews was at an altitude camp prior to the Tour de France when he fell ill. Team staff diagnosed a pulmonary embolism<\/a>, a potentially life-threatening condition involving a blood clot in the lungs.<\/p>\n The news was announced by his Jayco AlUla<\/a> team on June 13, with Matthews being sidelined from all competition due to what his team described as a safeguarding measure.<\/p>\n He missed the Tour de France, and didn\u2019t return to competition until August 31.<\/p>\n Matthews was shaken by the medical condition, an understandable reaction from a professional level sportsman normally in very good health. He rode solidly upon his return, taking top five finishes in the Coppa Bernocchi and Gran Piemonte, and was part of the winning Australian squad in the mixed relay team time trial at the world championships.<\/p>\n However Saturday\u2019s success is a major step forward, given that it\u2019s the first time he crossed the finish line as an individual race winner since his illness.<\/p>\n \u201cI was really in good shape in the final, and I\u2019m very happy to have won this race again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He also triumphed in the event two years ago, giving him both an important insight into the Gran Premio Castell\u00f3n plus an emotional connection.<\/p>\n \u2018I feel I\u2019m getting better and better\u2019 Matthews\u2019 path back to victory didn\u2019t come easy. That pulmonary embolism scare aside, he crashed hard in his season debut in the Classica Camp de Morverde on Friday.<\/p>\n Once he decided to compete on Saturday his team rowed in behind him, spending much of the race riding on the front to control the gains of a dangerous move.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter yesterday\u2019s crash, the first part of the race was challenging, but then I felt better and better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe team always believed in our chances of winning and worked hard and full throttle all day. We controlled the race most of the day, and in the finale, there were three of us \u2013 Andrea Vendrame, Davide De Pretto, and me fighting for the win.\u201d<\/p>\n Next up for Matthews is the Majorcan races, starting with the Trofeo Calvi\u00e0 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n He\u2019s doing those as part of his buildup for Milan-San Remo<\/a>, a major career target for him.<\/p>\n He missed out on the win in 2024 by a matter of inches, and has also finished third, third and fourth in the race. His near misses in other big one day races include third, fourth and fifth in the Amstel Gold Race, plus one silver and two bronze medals in the elite road world championships.<\/p>\n Winning a monument or the world title is a huge career priority. His health scare will only see him redouble his efforts now.<\/p>\n \u201cI really feel like I\u2019m getting better and better,\u201d he said when announcing a contract extension with the team last November.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to another two years with the team and seeing what we can achieve together. Hopefully I can achieve those goals that I\u2019ve been looking for in my career along with the team.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just really excited to see what these next two years bring and just appreciate every moment.\u201d<\/p>\n A friendly rivalry with Poga\u010dar On paper at least, Matthews\u2019 attributes are perfect for San Remo success. He\u2019s one of the fastest sprinters in the bunch, as underlined by his four Tour de France stage wins, as well as three apiece in the Giro and the Vuelta.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also a surprisingly strong climber, well able to mix it with the best on selective courses. That\u2019s how he took three victories in the GP Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec.<\/p>\n Matthews is very good friends with Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a> and regularly trains with the multiple Tour de France winner. He spoke at length<\/a> to Velo before about that, explaining why two riders from rival teams with different attributes spent so much time together.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess it\u2019s down to friendships,\u201d he said, explaining the unexpected link. \u201cThere\u2019s no rhythm or reason or why, but it just works.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, we train very similar ways. We like to ride really hard all day and just attack each other and see who\u2019s the strongest on the day, which is always fun. There\u2019s not too many guys that that like to do this anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone\u2019s normally so focused on their training they have to do that day. But most days we don\u2019t really care too much. As long as we\u2019re having fun and just smashing ourselves, then that\u2019s what drives us to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Matthews, Poga\u010dar is utterly determined to win Milan \u2013 San Remo. The Slovenian has taken many of the top races in the sport, including Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge, Il Lombardia and the Tour of Flanders.<\/p>\n Completing the set of five monuments is a major goal for the Tour star but while they are close buddies, Matthews will be doing all he can to frustrate his friend and reach the finish line first this spring.<\/p>\n His pulmonary embolism last summer gave him a big scare. Now that he\u2019s got his first win under his belt, he\u2019ll hope to keep building and to make the very most out of his second chance in the sport.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated January 24, 2026 01:02PM It\u2019s only January and the race is not a WorldTour event, but Michael…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[168574,49,48,635,54263,82,62848,86225,140390,54266,54267],"class_list":{"0":"post-431317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-audio-true","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-parent_category-road","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tag-jayco-alula","15":"tag-tag-michael-matthews","16":"tag-tag-milan-san-remo","17":"tag-tag-tadej-pogacar","18":"tag-type-article"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2257958086.jpg\"\/)
Michael Matthews (Team Jayco AlUla) celebrates as race winner of the Ruta de la Ceramica \u2013 Gran Premio Castellon 2026 (Photo: Antonio Baixauli\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Tadej](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2235041092.jpg\"\/)
Tadej Poga\u010dar (UAE Team Emirates \u2013 XRG) and Michael Matthews (Team Jayco AlUla) prior to the 2025 Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n