Michael Matthews has beaten the seemingly invincible Tadej Pogacar to grab an emotional triumph in the prestigious Grand Prix de Quebec one-day race, a victory he dedicated to his late grandmother.
The evergreen Australian star sprinted to the 42nd win of his career in the 201.6km WorldTour race in Quebec City on Friday, just a couple of days after watching his grandmother's funeral back in his home town of Canberra via video link in Canada.
"This gave me extra motivation and makes this victory so special," said the 33-year-old, who became the first man to win the race three times.
"It means much more than I can put into words. I wanted it so much. If I didn’t win, then what was the point in being so far away from my family during this difficult time?"
It was a hugely special win for the rider known as 'Bling' as he even outshone his friend Pogacar, the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia champion who has enjoyed a rare aura this year and was making his comeback after winning Le Tour.
Matthews, a spearhead for the Australian team Jayco Al-Ula, timed his sprint perfectly from 250 metres out, getting the jump on his rivals including Pogacar, who paid the price for a failed attack over the final one-kilometre Cote des Glacis climb and ended seventh.
Matthews, winner in 2018 and 2019, had too much firepower, comfortably beating runner-up Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) and Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ).
"I knew I didn't have the peak power today, but I have a really long sprint, and I knew I had the power to do a 15 to 20 second sprint," he said.
All the pre-race attention had been on Pogacar's return after he decided to miss the Olympics but Matthews, who hadn't won a race since January, grabbed the limelight.
"Tadej is the number one cyclist in the world at the moment. He's done some things this year that we've never seen in cycling before, so I totally understand that. I'm a fan of him, also," Matthews told reporters.
"So when he comes to Canada, it's not so often, and I understand that the fans love him, and he's great for the sport.
"For me, I'm just here to do my job, which is to win."
Matthews' previous best outing this year had been finishing second in the Milan-San Remo 'Monument' classic but he lost his way after being relegated to 11th for what was judged to be an illegal sprint in the Tour of Flanders following a third-place finish.
"Since Flanders, with my disqualification in that sprint, my head rolled off a little bit, honestly, with the Tour de France and the Olympics, so to bounce back here, it's incredible," added Matthews, who will spearhead Australia's hopes in the world championships road race in Zurich in a fortnight.
