Matthews ready to lead from the front for Australia at the UCI World Championships in Wollongong

Men's elite road rider Michael Matthews will be hoping to end that drought himself, though he will have to beat some stiff competition if he is able to do so.

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In his way are Belgians Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel, Slovenian Tadej Pogacar and current world champion Julian Alaphilippe, but that's not deterring the 2010 Geelong U-23 rainbow jersey winner.

The Canberran is in good form leading into the race on Sunday, finishing second in Quebec this month, which backed up his Tour de France stage victory earlier this year.

With this in mind, 'Bling', as he is affectionately known by his teammates, is ready to perform in Wollongong, but he knows just how big of a task it is.

"It is a bit of a stress, I'm not going to lie," he said.

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"Expectations is just people believing in you that you can come away with the goods.

"And hopefully that can happen and I can use that positive energy to get me across the line.

"It's [the expectation] all a positive and I'm going to use it as a positive."

Matthews added he was well aware of the competition his team is up against on Sunday.

"There's some very strong bike riders out there," he said.

"The two favourites for the day I think are Wout (van Aert) and Tadej (Pogacar) so I think they will be the key guys.

"But I'll just be doing my thing trying to get on top," Matthews said.

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In the women's road race, Josie Talbot will be competing on home turf on Saturday as the side looks to continue it's good form from this year's all-conquering Commonwealth Games squad.

She said she will try and use her knowledge of the course, which goes past her own backyard, to help her team and she added it may even give the side the edge they need.

"Obviously training and racing on courses are a totally different experience but I hope that the knowledge that I have been able to give is going to help the whole team," she said.

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"I hope it will help us collectively and give us a slight advantage."

She said she hasn't put too much thought into winning the world's on home soil.

"We all dream of winning but it doesn't matter which one of us finishes over the line first as long as it's one of us that's first," Talbot said.

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