{"id":50613,"date":"2025-09-10T14:06:52","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T14:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2024\/?p=50613"},"modified":"2025-09-11T08:05:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T08:05:32","slug":"matthews-returns-to-happy-hunting-ground-ahead-of-canadian-double-header","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/matthews-returns-to-happy-hunting-ground-ahead-of-canadian-double-header\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthews returns to happy hunting ground ahead of Canadian double header"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Australian <strong>Michael Matthews<\/strong> will return to happy hunting ground in Canada as he leads <strong>Team Jayco AlUla<\/strong> into the <strong>Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec<\/strong> and <strong>Grand Prix Cycliste de Montr\u00e9al<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 34-year-old is a three-time winner in Qu\u00e9bec, including a stunning sprint victory last year. Matthews has also tasted success in Montr\u00e9al, taking the win in the tough-one day race back in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Swiss champion <strong>Mauro Schmid<\/strong> will add an attacking dynamic to the squad fresh from a fighting fifth place finish at the Maryland Cycling Classic, with former Italian champion <strong>Filippo Zana<\/strong> giving the team some extra firepower on the hilly courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In support, the team will rely on Australian champion <strong>Luke Durbridge<\/strong> and experienced compatriot <strong>Michael Hepburn<\/strong>. Neo-pro <strong>Bob Donalson<\/strong> will provide further strength, while the versatile <strong>Asbj\u00f8rn Hellemose<\/strong> completes the line-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Team Jayco AlUla:<\/u><\/strong><br>Bob Donaldson (GBR)<br>Luke Durbridge (AUS)<br>Michael Hepburn (AUS)<br>Asbj\u00f8rn Hellemose (DEN)<br>Michael Matthews (AUS)<br>Mauro Schmid (SUI)<br>Filippo Zana (ITA)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Michael Matthews:<\/u><\/strong><br><em>\u201cI know the course has been changed, I think it will probably mess the flow up a little bit of the last years of this race, but I think it will still be an exciting race. I think it will probably be more aggressive because you are out of sight quite fast on this new finish, so I expect an aggressive race, but a lot times this one comes down to a sprint and fingers crossed that happens again. If it doesn&#8217;t, we will have to play some different cards to see how we can still win this race.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>It feels a bit like at home here in Canada, like being back in Australia, so I\u2019m probably a bit more relaxed. I also love circuit racing so that always helps and the courses here in Quebec and in Montreal suit me really well. I\u2019ve had a great history here so hopefully I make some more memories this weekend.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Mat Hayman (Sport Director):<\/u><\/strong><br><em>\u201cWe\u2019ve got a really strong team for Quebec, but when you\u2019ve got a guy that has won this race three times in the past, you\u2019ve got to back him and it\u2019s a race that really suits Michael. It\u2019s a new course which is exciting, it means everybody is going to have to adjust their tactic.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We\u2019re going to have to be weary of the new course and the new tactics, but we\u2019ve got a strong team and we\u2019ll back Michael for Friday and then going into Montreal on Sunday, it\u2019s a lot harder, less controlled and we\u2019ll probably have to be more aggressive and use our strength in numbers.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec \u2013 Race Details:<\/u><\/strong><br>Fri, 12th Sep, Qu\u00e9bec \u2013 Qu\u00e9bec (216km)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Grand Prix Cycliste de Montr\u00e9al \u2013 Race Details:<\/u><\/strong><br>Sun, 14th Sep, Montr\u00e9al \u2013 Montr\u00e9al (209.1km)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australian Michael Matthews will return to happy hunting ground in Canada as he leads Team Jayco AlUla into the Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec and Grand Prix Cycliste de&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50614,"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\/50613"}],"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=50613"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50615,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50613\/revisions\/50615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenedgecycling.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}