Michael Matthews may be leaving the safety of his Australian Orica-BikeExchange team, but the Australian Classics star is no stranger to change, having turn pro with Dutch team Rabobank.

"Orica is a team where I was comfortable in and it would have been easy to stay, stick it out and see what happens. But I always want to win and the best way for me to keep winning and win more is to go to Team Sunweb with the support they're going to give me. They have a good plan for me for the next three years. It's nice to know they have a long-term plan for me and where they see me developing. The structure they have also suits my style, so I'm really looking forward to riding with them," Matthews told Cyclingnews.

While Matthews finally won the Tour de France stage he has sought since 2014 this season, his other big goals didn’t go as planned at all.

"Things started off really well with me winning the first time trial and then the stage and taking the green jersey [at Paris-Nice]. But it didn't go according to plan from there," he explains. "I crashed pretty hard in Milan-San Remo and then later in Amstel Gold Race, I didn't go with the attack on he Cauberg as I should have done. It was hard since then. A lot of the goals during the year I just wasn't able to take. Whether it was just due to a crash or a bit of bad luck.”

"I expected more from myself this year but it wasn't out of lack of trying," he said. "I tried all the time but had a lot of bad luck. Sometimes you create your own luck but that didn't happen this year. But that's the way it goes. I feel I still have more to give. Hopefully I can have more luck in 2017 and out do the results of the 2016 season.”