Tour de France: Michael Matthews reacts to the victory in the 14th stage (VIDEO) – Sportnet.sk

MENDE. For several years, he was one of Peter Sagan’s main challengers in the battle for the green jersey. In 2017, he also benefited from his disqualification and won the points competition. Under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, he posed in a green jersey and believed that he could defend this title a year later. However, the opposite was true. Instead of further successes at the Tour de France, disappointments came. There were plenty of podium places, but no stage victory. He was close to it twice in the 109th edition. He was second twice. In the sixth stage he was beaten by Tadej Pogačar and two days later by Wout van Aert. Only in Saturday’s 14th stage did Michael Matthews end his five-year wait. Moreover, he managed to win when he was not one of the favorites. Before the stage, the odds for his victory were 61:1. he didn’t say,” admitted the former Czech cyclist and today a co-commentator of ČT Sport Stanislav Kozubek. He also thanked his Slovak wife. Matthews won the stage in which the cyclists had to climb almost 3,500 meters in height. There were five categorized hills on the track, and the last one in particular was a big scare for many. Although it was only three kilometers long, the average slope was more than ten percent. And although there were better climbers in the escaping group than the Australian, he gave the performance of his life. “This victory is like the story of my career, which resembles a roller coaster. Yesterday I missed a big opportunity and I was running out of chances. But I showed everyone that I am not just a sprinter, but I can ride like I did today,” he said. Matthews is also close to the country under the Tatras, because his wife Katarína is Slovak. They got married in 2015 in Tuscany. Today, they have a four-year-old daughter together.