The panache Michael Matthews showed to attack and solo to victory in stage 14 of the Tour de France in July played a key role in him becoming Australia's outright leader for the men's elite road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong, says Rory Sutherland, the Australian Cycling Team elite road co-ordinator.
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"It was an amazing victory," Sutherland said of Matthews, who was once seen as a pure sprinter but has shown he can now win by going on the offensive, even in hilly races such as the Tour stage to Mende, which he won after soloing away on a steep climb to the finish.
"It was completely different from the 'norm' for Michael, but it showed his true ability and talents.
"We see a mature Michael who has thought about the process, like, 'Some things we need to do differently'."
Sutherland added that much credit must go to Matthews' trade team, BikeExchange-Jayco for steering him through this phase of development.
"The team has realised that he is not just a sprinter, and that sometimes you have to get in front of the game and not wait for the game to come to you.
"In the Tour [win] that is exactly what he did. Full credit to the team for changing the mentality for how he races. We only get these athletes [on the national team] for a couple of days. To get selected is not from the events we are giving them. It is from the events the teams put them in and [then decide] how they race."
Sutherland believes in the strength of a team riding for one leader, rather than two as some teams do ... and as some critics believe Australia should have done by including sprinter Caleb Ewan in the Australian team.
Sutherland said while one rider may win a road race, the victory is shared by the team privately because every member has a role to setting their leader up for victory.
It is not dissimilar to a football team where the winning goal or try is a consequence of play by various teammates before one of them scores.
"One person crosses the line when they win," he said.
"There will be eight men on the start line on Sunday. There can't be eight winners, but you need to build a team where if one person wins you have eight winners.
"In the lottery of a road race, anything can happen, but the group we have here has been based around that aspect of it being a team with a goal ... yes, you can adapt as you go, but it's [about having] one leader instead of splitting a group with a couple of leaders."
Sutherland, who raced a European-based professional for 15 years from 2005, admits that one of his biggest challenges since starting his position on the Australian team in late 2020, is making hard and sometimes unpopular calls as part of the AusCycling selection panel.
"It is very easy to have an opinion or comments about a selection from a couch, a computer screen or on social media," he said of the public debate and criticism made.
"There is a lot more to it behind the scenes," Sutherland said, citing budgets and development priorities as two areas that play into it.
"You are always going to come up against challenges. For a home worlds you are because there are more emotional decisions than when the worlds are in Belgium [or another nation outside Australia] and you are not talking about athletes not being able to perform in their home town or country.
"There were more people to look at, but more to disappoint."
Sutherland said the Australian team has developed a strong sense of collective spirit that he felt had waned.
"We have been working towards unity, getting the athletes together to buy into the event, to re-find what had been seemingly lost for whatever reason ... the pride and importance of wearing the national team jersey, that going to a world championship is a privilege that should be respected by all athletes and staff. That is what I saw last year at Leuven [in Belgium for the world titles] ... that had been lost a little bit."
Sutherland says he is confident every Australian team will showcase that new-found unity in any of the road races held today and on the weekend.
"Do that, and I will be really proud if they win a medal or not," he said.
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