Matthews helps Sunweb to TTT World Championship title
Canberran adds to his Tour de France glory by claiming team time trial gold in Norway.
Michael Matthews capped a brilliant season by helping Team Sunweb win the team time trial at the Road World Championships in Bergen.
The Australian claimed the green jersey as points winner in the Tour de France in July – taking two stage victories in the process.
And his knowledge was key to Sunweb’s success in the Worlds, as they beat BMC by eight seconds with Chris Froome’s Team Sky back in third.
It's @TeamSunweb !! Our new UCI Team Time Trial World Champions�� What a day for @TeamSunweb after the Women's TTT World title #Bergen2017 pic.twitter.com/b9UWCrmevd
— UCI (@UCI_cycling) September 17, 2017
Matthews did a reconnaissance mission back in May rode the course and is believed to have told his team bosses which riders would be best suited to the hilly route.
And his advice paid off perfectly as Sunweb – with Tom Dumoulin, Lennard Kamna, Wilco Kelderman, Søren Kragh Andersen, Sam Oomen and Matthews – set the pace and then sat in the hotseat as all their rivals failed to beat the time.
Dumoulin said: "We had a very good pace and kept it all the way to the line. We tried to keep together especially on the long climb, and that just about worked out – barely. It's the team event of the year, and we pulled it off."
Aussies Rohan Dennis and Miles Scotson had to settle for silver with BMC, while an Australian dominated Orica-Scott team finished fifth overall.
Sunweb were celebrating a double as their women’s team also took out the team time trial by 12 seconds from the Boels-Dolmans team, with Cervélo-Bigla finishing third.
