One of the major take-outs from the 2022 Tour de France that finished in Paris last Sunday, is that the Australian team should have two aces to play in the 'blue riband' event of this year's UCI World Road Championships in Wollongong.
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NSW's Caleb Ewan, 28, and the ACT's Michael Matthews, 31 - both sprinters - should both be earmarked by AusCycling selectors as major contenders for the men's elite road race.
The world championships from September 18-25, will mark the greatest assembly of cyclists in NSW since the 2000 Sydney Olympics and match Geelong's world titles in 2010.
Australian riders should be in the fray throughout the 2022 championships that end with the 266.9km men's elite road race on Sunday, September 25, in which Matthews and Ewan can star in.
However, unless it is managed well, such strength can also pose a danger to the Australian team that in turn must be carefully selected with a view to it including riders who can help the leaders, or cover for them, should the race produce an unexpected scenario that may require one of them to try their hand for victory.
As past Australian and other national teams have found, having two sprinters can be a problem unless there is transparent discussion beforehand between them and their teammates about the permutations and what roles they will have pending how the race unfolds.
Without a clear-cut plan agreed by all in the Australian team, the greatest potential flash point would be if Matthews and Ewan both found themselves in a big bunch sprint finish, fixated on their own winning hopes and with remaining teammates uncertain on who to help, or at best divided.
Both riders can win the world title, despite the course including 3945 metres of climbing elevation.
Thankfully, there is a difference in racing style between Matthews and Ewan who have raced together on the Australian team. Matthews, who won the Under 23 world title in 2010 at Geelong, is a far stronger climber than Ewan.
His sprinting prowess is on slightly uphill finishes akin to what he won on in Geelong, rather than on flat sprints like what the course at Wollongong will finish on, or in a small breakaway group.
However, Matthews' attacking style has become the cornerstone to his successes.
When he won the Tour green points jersey in 2017, many of his accrued points came from getting into breakaways and winning intermediate sprints, but he has since worked on climbing prowess. In this year's Tour, he soloed to victory on stage 14 in the Massif Central from Saint Etienne to Mende after attacking his last rival from a day long breakaway, Italian Alberto Bettiol, on the final climb to the finishing straight.
In Wollongong, Matthews would be a major winning threat in any breakaway group, whether it escaped after the 34.2km Mount Keira loop with 200km to go, or on one of the ascents of Mount Pleasant, a 1.1km kicker in the 12-lap 17.1km Wollongong City circuit.
Ewan, meanwhile, will be buoyed by several factors that set him aside from Matthews.
From nearby Bowral in the Southern Highlands, Ewan grew up cycling on the same roads he will be racing on.
While he is not a climber, his knowledge and understanding of the terrain - especially Mt Keira - will help him manage his efforts and follow the peloton's tempo, hoping it will not let a breakaway stay away on the 12 Wollongong City Circuits.
If the race is controlled to his favour, Ewan should have the power to follow any late accelerations and has the punch to follow uphill accelerations, especially if he is back at his peak condition after recovering from a Tour frustratingly void of stage wins and his surgery on Monday to remove a plate from his collar bone that he broke in last year's Tour.
Should Matthews still be in a breakaway that appears set to last the distance, Ewan's winning hopes would be all but gone.
The Australian team would not chase Matthews. But should a break including Matthews be caught by other teams and Ewan survive the last circuits with teammates to set him up for the finale, he would be as big a chance as any to win.
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