This month, the Australian crashed twice and thought about retiring on Sunday after the toughest Pyrenean stage.
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The tour will officially return on Tuesday, as Stage 10 will get under way. After two really bad years of this race, I was close to giving in. “But today my dreams came true”.
The Orica-BikeExchange rider has now won stages on all three of the Grand Tours, with a fifth place on the second stage proving his previous best result of this year’s race.
Stage 10 takes the 193 riders left in the race from Escaldes-Engordany in Andorra on a 197-kilometer trek to Revel in the south of France.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s only just sinking in”, said Matthews.
Australia’s Richie Porte remains two minutes and ten seconds behind Froome.
It allowed Matthews to tuck in behind Sagan and make the most of the Slovak’s slipstream to win the dash to the line. Impey countered the move, Durbridge then tried another attack to wear out Sagan, and the small group stayed compact until the final kilometre.
Michael Matthews claimed his first stage win in the Tour de France, edging a thrilling six-way sprint over the final 250 metres. Matthews followed and easily passed Sagan to exact revenge after finishing runner-up to the Slovak in the world championships past year.
“I would not have won without Luke Durbridge, and Daryl Impey attacking in the climb and leading out the sprint”, said Matthews. Durbridge and Impey gave me everything to win. “There are no words”.
Matthews was part of a group of early breakaway riders during the 24-kilometer climb to the Port d’Envalira, the highest climb of the Tour at 2,408 meters.
The Tour de France doesn’t really begin until the cyclists hit the mountain and that’s where the real action starts for everyone.
He was joined by Sagan, Vincenzo Nibali, and Matthews in the highly technical descent to the spa town of Ax-les-Thermes, made even more risky by the thick fog at the top. Several riders bridged the breakaway group, which passed by the characteristic and colorful cafes of Ax-les-Thermes at full speed.
But with 25km left, Sagan put in a searing burst of pace that split the breakaway group, leaving just seven riders in the lead – crucially three of those from the Aussie Orica team.
For Sagan, it was a 17th second place in Tour de France stages, but he could console himself after reclaiming the green jersey from Mark Cavendish.
Back at the peloton, IAM Cycling and Direct Energie accelerated the tempo in rainy conditions and the gap dropped under five minutes with 45 kilometres to go.
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Midway through the stage, an initial break of 15 riders including the likes of Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Sagan, Mikel Landa (Team Sky) and Matthews pulled well clear.
