The 22-year old Australian sprinter Michael Matthews gave Orica-Greenedge another great start to a Grand Tour with his convincing win in today's bunch sprint.  

Yesterday, he won the bunch sprint in a very tough finale but had to settle for 3rd as Daniel Moreno and Fabian Cancellara had already gone clear. Today, no one managed to deny the sprinters, and so nothing separated Matthews from the stage win

Matthews has gradually progressed this year. He recently won two stages in the Tour of Utah which he used to prepare for the Vuelta. Today’s win was the first in a Grand Tour and only the second in a World Tour Race. Thus, it may be considered as a breakthrough for the young sprinter.   

The Vuelta has been a clear target for Matthews right from the beginning of the season

"It has been my goal all season to arrive at Vuelta a España in great shape. Everything until now has been a build-up towards that target."

After the stage, Matthews explained the win in detail.

“We had Christian on the front from the start of the chase. Together with two Garmin guys, he rode the ten minute gap back to four minutes. He was really impressive today.”

 “We used Gerro, Cookie, Clarkey and Bewley in the chase, said Matthews. Leigh [Howard] and Mitch [Docker] saved themselves for the lead-out. The rest of the team was on the front going full gas to bring back the break and keep me safe.These are guys that I’ve grown up looking up to during my whole career. To see them riding on the front for me puts a tear in the eye, Matthews added.”

“The beauty about being the guy for the sprint is that I didn’t have to worry about the chase. My job was to follow the wheels in front of me and keep my mind clear and focused on my job at the end of the stage. The team’s job was to bring back the break. I trusted them to do their job, and they trusted me to do mine.I didn’t have to pay any attention to the gaps or the chase work. I focused on every possible scenario I could image for the sprint. Here’s what I would do if I had a lead-out. Here’s what I would do if I didn’t have a lead-out. That sort of thing.”

“I had a hint that Gilbert was going to make that move. I was expecting it. I think he thought the final would be more uphill, but it was a flat sprint. It wasn’t hard enough for a move like that. He came back pretty quickly because of the lead-outs going from Quick-Step and Argos. I had a clear line in the end to open my sprint and show my sprinting legs to the world.”

“When I was on the podium, I noticed there were a fair few Aussies in the crowd. Winning a Grand Tour stage is great; climbing onto the podium on the other side of the world to celebrate that win and having people from home there to cheer you on is really something special.”

“It’s super awesome for the team to have a win already on stage five. We have a lot of potential on a lot of the coming stages. I think this is just the beginning for us, Matthews added."

Matthews may get another chance in tomorrow's stage which should be another one for the fast finishers.