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Australian cyclist Michael Matthews has been compared to Spanish three-time world champion Oscar Freire by team management on the eve of the 2014 world championships in Ponferrada.
Simon Gerrans will be many people’s favourite when the week-long championships climax with the men’s road race, but national performance director Kevin Tabotta believes Matthews could surprise on the hilly circuit course in north-western Spain.
“Michael Matthews’ ability to climb is a little bit underestimated at times,” Tabotta told AAP ahead of the opening team time trial on Sunday.
“We’ve got to remember that it is a one-day race and it’s not unusual for guys with a sprint capacity to survive on circuit races like that and really be a nuisance at the end.
“We’ve seen that year in year out with guys particularly like Oscar Freire.
“He was always there when people never expected him to be there at the finish so I wouldn’t be writing off Michael Matthews at this stage.”
Tabotta said if the race on September 28 wasn’t too selective Matthews, who turns 24 next week, was a great card for the Australian team to play.
“If the race pans out a certain way then he’s the perfect guy to have there in the finale,” the director said.
Freire won world road titles in 1999, 2001 and 2004, as well as Milan-Sanremo three times and host of Grand Tour stages.
Matthews, who rides for Orica-GreenEDGE, has already won a Giro d’Italia stage and claimed three Vuelta wins, including a stage in late August when he came around Dan Martin in an uphill sprint.
The ACT rider was under-23 world champion in 2010 when the event was held in Geelong.
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