Michael Matthews will be one of the favourites for the rainbow jersey at the World Championships in Richmond, Virginia. The Orica GreenEDGE Cycling Team rider showed he is  in a great shape. After a good campaign in Canada with a stage win in Alberta and a 2nd place behin winner Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-Quick Step) in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, he told Cyclingnews that he has good legs .

"The form is really good and I came up really well after Alberta and I had really good form in Quebec and Montreal. I’ve been here ever since training. I’ve a few little bits of preparation to do before the road race next Sunday", Matthews explained. "Winning it’s definitely possible. I have the form to do it and I have the team to support me. I have to have a bit of luck on my side but hopefully the preparation and the dream comes together. The road race is more about conserving energy as much as possible and then giving it all in the last few laps. I have the form to do that and I’ll take that confidence with me into Sunday."

The Australian rider, who won the Under 23 Road Race at the Worlds in Melbourne in 2010, explained that his national team will be very competitive: "We have maybe four guys who could be there for me in the final. It’s a really demanding course and it can depend on who works where in terms of trying to keep the race together as much as possible."