{"id":47149,"date":"2024-06-24T15:48:56","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T15:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2024\/?p=47149"},"modified":"2024-06-26T19:12:14","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T19:12:14","slug":"team-talk-mat-hayman-on-life-after-racing-returning-to-australia-and-the-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/team-talk-mat-hayman-on-life-after-racing-returning-to-australia-and-the-tour-de-france\/","title":{"rendered":"TEAM TALK – Mathew Hayman on life after racing, returning to Australia, and the Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Racing careers are finite, and all professional riders must face the question of what comes next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2016 Paris-Roubaix winner Mathew Hayman<\/strong> faced that question at the beginning of 2019 when he finished his career at that year\u2019s Tour Down Under.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hayman was one of GreenEDGE Cycling<\/strong>\u2019s defining riders in the team\u2019s earlier years, and since his retirement five years ago, he\u2019s become a highly respected sport director for Team Jayco AlUla<\/strong>. However, the transition took time to adjust to after spending 20 seasons as a professional rider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was confronting for a little while to go and sit on the other table at dinner and sit with the staff and then you eventually get into that role,\u201d<\/em> Hayman says. \u201cAs part of my transition away, and the struggle I had with deciding to retire, I felt like it was a good way to go into the next thing and gain some skills, use my knowledge, give back to the team and the riders that I had raced with, and hopefully continue to contribute to the team and their performances.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sport directing was not high on Hayman\u2019s list of post-career plans to begin with and there was a time when he would have dismissed the suggestion of becoming a sport director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As his racing career came to a close, he still wanted to work with GreenEDGE Cycling \u2013 where he\u2019d been riding since 2014 \u2013 but he initially had different plans for his post-racing career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were years when I said that I would never do it, it was the last thing I wanted to do. I think I was still in denial [about retirement],\u201d<\/em> says Hayman. \u201cThe role was originally around working with the sponsors, doing some days at races, and learning the ropes across a range of areas but it quickly turned into a sport director role.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A view from the other side: Mat Hayman does a pre-stage team talk at the 2019 Giro d’Italia (Photo: KRAMON)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Swapping the saddle for the car seat was an eye-opening experience for Hayman. Out in the peloton, he didn\u2019t have the chance to appreciate what went on in the car behind or how much work went into making a race run smoothly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past five years, Hayman has been developing his own style as a sport director and how best to use his knowledge to help the riders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUltimately, you want to encourage the riders to act on their own instincts and it\u2019s not a dictatorship where I say what happens,\u201d<\/em> he says. \u201cYou try to encourage them to understand the tactic and then they go out and make the adjustments themselves. I\u2019m trying to work on that.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was a lot of homework that needed to be done, logistics and planning, that I wasn\u2019t aware of as a rider,\u201d <\/em>Hayman adds. \u201cI thought [sport directors] knew a lot more about what was going on in a race. I was a road captain during my last few years as a rider and I had a pretty good grasp of things. I felt I was in control of everything. Then you realise when you\u2019re sitting in the car as a sport director and you have a bit of a crackly radio, the communication isn\u2019t always great, that you\u2019ve got to try and figure out in your head what you think is happening.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to Australia<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mat Hayman wins Paris-Roubaix in 2016 (Photo: Sprint Cycling)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another major post-retirement change for Hayman was his decision to return to home to Australia with his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019d spent much of his career living in Belgium, spoke fluent Flemish, and had created a life there. However, the Coronavirus pandemic that swept the world just a year after he stopped racing proved to be a catalyst to return Down Under.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Hayman splits his time between Europe and Australia, flying his racing blocks before returning home to spend quality time with his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCOVID was a time to reflect,\u201d<\/em> he explains. \u201cI have children that are growing up and my eldest has started high school this year. We were acutely aware that our families are getting older, and lockdown and not being able to return gave us time to think about what we wanted, and what we wanted for our children. So, we moved back.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With such differing time zones, it can be a tricky balance at times, but it also has its benefits for Hayman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have this term in Australia, FIFO \u2013 fly in fly out \u2013 though I\u2019m not going into the mines of central Australia but to Europe,\u201d<\/em> he says. \u201cIn some ways, it\u2019s given me the ability to really focus when I am here. The family is on a different time zone, I\u2019m not trying to juggle both.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m in Europe, I tend to do big days and then I try to be more present when I\u2019m at home. During the day when the kids are at school, I\u2019m able to do stuff uninterrupted. You do feel like you\u2019re living a double life at times, but it is also good to be able to switch on and off.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tour de France<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
May Hayman finished his first Tour de France in 2016 (Photo: Sprint Cycling)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Later this week, Hayman will be in action from the sport directors\u2019 car at the forthcoming Tour de France. Having ridden the French grand tour four times in his career, Hayman has first-hand experience of what a race as big as this means. He has felt the highs and lows it delivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a child growing up watching VHS recordings of Tour de France stages and reading the latest editions of Cycling Weekly that he could get his hands on from the UK, Hayman long dreamed of being able to compete in it but it took a while to reach that goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I turned pro, I thought it was going to be in the next couple of years, that it was on my horizon, but it never really fit in,\u201d<\/em> says Hayman. \u201cIt was one of the reasons I moved to GreenEDGE. They gave me that first start in the Tour in 2014, and I\u2019d already been pro 13 years. It ended after 10 stages. It was probably one of the lowest points in my career to get off at the Tour.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen I did it in 2016 and it was clean sailing. It was emotional to finish the last mountain stage and go into Paris and ride around the Champs \u00c9lys\u00e9es. I told [team owner] Gerry Ryan, I\u2019d been to the Champs \u00c9lys\u00e9es as a spectator to watch it when I was a U23. I was racing in Belgium, and I\u2019d broken my collarbone, so I went down to Paris and watched the race and thought I\u2019d be there in a couple of years. It was almost 15 years later that I got to finish the Tour. It seems silly, but it was a big turning point in my career to be able to say I\u2019d done that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
There are few feelings like finishing the Tour de France (KRAMON)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Going to the Tour de France is still a big moment as a sport director and Hayman is keen to use his experience to guide the 2024 eight-rider squad to stage success as well as a strong GC result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an awareness that it\u2019s the biggest race on the calendar, there\u2019s more media attention, and that you need to do the best possible job for the riders to get the best results,\u201d<\/em> he says. \u201cHopefully one or more of them is able to achieve something that they\u2019ve dreamed of, reach their full potential, and show the world how good they are.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taking a very professional, experienced, and talented team to the Tour. It\u2019s nice knowing that we\u2019re in with a chance almost daily to either win a stage or perform on GC. There\u2019s no real rest at the Tour, it\u2019s going to be a whirlwind, but I\u2019ve got a lot of support on the directors\u2019 side and a great group of staff. I\u2019m really keen to bring that GreenEDGE culture to another race.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top photo: KRAMON<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Racing careers are finite, and all professional riders must face the question of what comes next. 2016 Paris-Roubaix winner Mathew Hayman faced that question at the beginning of 2019…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[296,386],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47149"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47149"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47165,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47149\/revisions\/47165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}