The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Michael Matthews and the changing face of Orica-GreenEDGE

Were Orica right to let Michael Matthews go? (Image: Team Sky).
Expert
28th August, 2013
0

Michael Matthews’ stage win overnight at the 2013 Vuelta a Espana is indicative of the transition currently taking place at Australian team Orica-GreenEDGE.

Matthew Goss is a fading force in the world of cycling and has had a shocker of a year, unlike some of his team mates who have excelled and accelerated ahead of the Tasmanian rider.

For the first two years of Orica-GreenEDGE’s existence the team has gone to both Tour de Frances with one goal: to support Goss and look for stages wins.

So far it hasn’t worked, though they did pick up stage wins on this year’s Tour through the Team Time Trial and Simon Gerrans’ victory, who somehow outsprinted eventual Green Jersey winner Peter Sagan.

But their main aim of getting a sprint win through Matt Goss has failed.

In 2012, at least he consistently finished in the top five this year, his name hardly even made the TV screen on the top 10 or 20 from the stage.

Meanwhile, other Orica-GreenEDGE sprinters who are younger than Goss – Michael Matthews and Leigh Howard – have had breakout seasons.

Both will be pushing hard to at the least be included in next year’s Tour de France team, if not being the lead sprinter, with Matt Goss reduced to lead-out man.

Advertisement

While Howard has a had a good year winning two races, Matthews has been the star of Orica-GreenEDGE this year.

He won two stages on the Tour of Utah, has consistently finished high enough on the tour to take the sprint classification jersey and now last night won his first Grand Tour stage at the Vuelta a Espana.

He was also second in the National Road Race Championships and third in the National Time Trial Championship with a second place finish in the Volta a Rioja.

He clearly has a good case if he can keep up his good form to overtake Goss as the main sprinter of Orica-GreenEDGE at the 2014 Tour de France.

Goss has had a very bad season when compared to the other two, with just a single stage win for the season and not much more last season.

Goss is starting to struggle to keep up with the best sprinters in the world, and even on his own team he may not be the best anymore.

Don’t be surprised if at next year’s Tour de France we see Matt Goss playing the role of lead-out man for either Matthews or Howard.

Advertisement
close