While it may have been a surprise for some that young Australian Michael Matthews won today's stage, teammate Mitch Docker considered it obvious that he would be the man for this sort of terrain. 

“We had a plan for winning with Michael Matthews but between a plan and the reality, there’s a gap sometimes. We couldn’t plan that we’d get so little help chasing at the front of the peloton. Only Garmin put two riders with us. Quick Step rode as well, but only at the very end. So we had to use all our guys early, including myself. I should have done a lead out until 500 metres to go but I was exhausted 3km before the line. All this work makes the victory sweeter. It’s good to come up with a result. I think Michael was full of confidence since the Tour of Utah but he was a bit disappointed to finish only third yesterday. We told him: look at the guys [Daniel Moreno and Fabian Cancellara] in front of you, how can you be disappointed? It was obvious that he’d be the man on a more favourable terrain.”

Matthews may already be given the chance to double his stage wins tally tomorrow when a flat stage awaits. Leigh Howard is, however, another very fast man on the Orica-Greenedge team, and the team may decide to back their second Australian sprinter tomorrow.