Michael Matthews Appreciation Thread

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The things I would do to be a fly on the wall in that team lol
It's insane. I think Spekenbrink is trying to systemically annoy every rider he has who is capable of winning at WT level - Kittel, Degenkolb, Barguil, Dumoulin, Theuns, Oomen, Kelderman and now Matthews.

Next will be guys like Hirschi, Andersen and Hindley at the rate he's going - he's already booted Storer from camp for going to the corner shop ffs.
 
Thinking about strategy here: why would Bling finish five minutes in front of Cav today? No need to talk about Bling being better in the hills than Cav because we know that already, but why not save a few watts today and ride with Cav?
 
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Matthews has ridden consistently all year BUT has always been a touch off his best form - It's been a disappointing return to Bike Exchange, though the team has been crap all year - Bike Exchange needs to reconsider their goals because they have sacrificed their sprint/classics for GC, when in effect they don't have a big enough budget to be a GC team.
 
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I'd say it balances out with Sagan taking points off Matthews and Ewan taking from Cav. In the bigger scheme I think Ewan is the one most likely to have won.

I can't wait for Wout to get unleashed on the points classification with no other responsibilities, it would be a sight to behold.

That does not make sense. In a finish, you can take 20 points from another rider if you beat him into second. In an intermediate sprint, you can take a maximum of three points from another rider by being one place better.
 
That does not make sense. In a finish, you can take 20 points from another rider if you beat him into second. In an intermediate sprint, you can take a maximum of three points from another rider by being one place better.
Yeah, but if you look at the types of riders they are, Ewan and Cavendish get most of their points in big bunch sprints while Sagan and Matthews get them from finishes and intermediate sprints those two can't contend.
 
Yeah, but if you look at the types of riders they are, Ewan and Cavendish get most of their points in big bunch sprints while Sagan and Matthews get them from finishes and intermediate sprints those two can't contend.

Exactly. Which is why it doesn't balance out that Sagan is also out of the race. Ewan being out gives Cavendish a huge amount of extra points whereas Sagan could not have taken that much from Matthews.
 
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