Team Jayco AlUla leader Michael Matthews returns to Ronde van Vlaanderen this weekend, more eager than ever before to clinch a spot on the podium at the iconic Flemish race on Sunday.
Highlighted as one of the key races that the 34-year-old is hungry to add to his impressive list of palmares, De Ronde has left a bitter taste in the Australian’s mouth after the 2024 edition, where he sprinted himself onto the podium only to be painfully relegated afterwards in the sprint to the line.
Coming off the back of an agonisingly close podium finish at Milan-Sanremo, where the all-rounder claimed fourth place, the form is clearly there, the motivation is higher than ever before, and Team Jayco AlUla is confident that ‘Bling’ can deliver on the day if luck is on his side.
Matthews – “Flanders is a race that I love, and it is a race that I really would love to win and believe I can win. 2024 was a hard pill to swallow with what happened in the final sprint, however I am back and in great shape once again and want to be there in the final once again, battling it out for victory. It is of course like all races now, going to be tough, but I have confidence, a strong team and I just hope everything goes smoothly on the day.”
Surrounding Matthews will be German duo Max Walscheid and Jasha Sütterlin, bringing a wealth of classics experience to the squad. The trio will be joined by Australian Olympic track champion Kelland O’Brien plus the Dutch duo of Elmar Reinders and Jelte Krijnsen.
Neo-pro Briton Robert Donaldson rounds out the seven-rider squad ready to tackle Sunday’s second Monument of the 2025 season, a brutal 268.8km event.
Mat Hayman – Sport Director “Sunday is the second cycling Monument of the year and Michael will be our leader. It’s a race that left him bitterly disappointed last year with a what we think was a harsh decision, so he’ll be back to try and emulate his performance from 2024. Unlike last year’s conditions it is looking like it’s going to be nice weather in Belgium and so like always, we are expecting a very hard race.”
Team Jayco AlUla at Tour of Flanders 2025:
Robert Donaldson (GBR)
Kelland O’Brien (AUS)
Elmar Reinders (NED)
Michael Matthews (AUS)
Jelte Krijnsen (NED)
Jasha Sutterlin (GER)
Max Walscheid (GER)
Photo: Sprint Cycling
