Young Australian gets his ProTour chance
Michael Matthews has signed with the Dutch Rabobank team for 2011. The 19-year-old receives a two-year contract. He currently rides for the Jayco Skin teams, a professional Continental team Down Under.
Matthews is the seventh signing from Rabobank for 2011, alongside Luis Léon Sanchez, Matti Breschel, Maarten Wynants, Theo Bos, Coen Vermeltfoort and Tom-Jelte Slagter. All of those riders are signed on for two years.
Matthews is currently riding in the Tour de l’Avenir, as well as Vermeltfoort and Slagter. Matthews had a strong showing so far, finishing third in the prologue (behind Taylor Phinney and Alex Dowsett) and second in the first road stage. The strong sprinter also led home the bunch yesterday behind the break, for a fifth place. He currently lies 14th overall. Slagter is fifth in the general classification.
Matthews shows talent for the classics as well, having finished second in the U23 Ronde van Vlaanderen. His third place in the U23 Australian time trial championships underlines his allround talents. He was also third in the road race.
Team director Erik Breukink took note of Matthews this year. “He is a good time trialer and he has fast legs at the finish. An allrounder, who is also still developing and who brings along a really good Australian mentality,” Breukink said on the team’s website.
“He is considered a top talent, where multiple ProTour teams showed interest. The fact that we were able to sign him makes us proud.” There are no problems that the Australian is still so young, celebrating his birthday next week. “He is 20 when he turns pro with us. He has shown really nice things already and we absolutely see a perspective in him.”
The team has followed Matthews’s progress throughout the season. “We are checking out these kinds of talents, and there aren’t that many at this level,” Breukink said. “Already in January we had him in our sights. We quickly spotted that he is a racer with a big engine and a very good mentality.
“He also hasn’t raced for that long yet, so he can still develop a lot. We talked to him a few times and we can see how motivated he is.”