Michael Matthews' bike: What is the Aussie fast man racing in 2023?

Michael Matthews, or 'Bling' to his friends, toes the line between a pure sprinter and a classics specialist. He's been a serial stage winner at the highest level for years now, and has racked up quite the palmares; nine Grand Tour stage wins, including four at the Tour de France and a Green Jersey there too. Combine that with a silver medal from the 2015 World Championships and bronze at the 2022 edition and you get the picture of a well-rounded rider who's bound to be in the mix of any race that isn't mountainous. 

Matthews currently rides for Team Jayco-AlUla, effectively the BikeExchange-Jayco team of 2022 but with new sponsors. As per the latter half of the 2022 season, the team will be using the new Giant Propel Advanced SL, updated last year to be more of an all-around race bike compared to the all-out aero previous generation.

We're going to take a look at his bike for the upcoming season, as well as looking back at some of his memorable bikes from seasons past. 

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What is Michael Matthews' bike?

While the team will have the option to use the Giant TCR, the brand's more lightweight, climbing-oriented bike, we'd be surprised if we ever see Matthews astride one. He's a powerful rider, not aiming to compete in the high mountains, so even on mountain stages he tends to stick to his favoured setup rather than switching. 

At 5'10" Matthews straddles Giant's 'M' and 'M/L' sizes, and while we weren't permitted to get the measuring tape out, the monstrous 140mm stem is a pretty guaranteed indication that he's opted for the smaller of the two options. 

We have seen custom paint jobs for Matthews in the past, even when he's not wearing a leader's jersey, but for 2023 he's got the same paint scheme as the rest of the team and a build that, although top-end and undeniably pro, is free from any surprises. 

Previously, back in the heady days of pro cycling where rim brakes still ruled the roost, we saw riders in Giant-sponsored teams predominantly using the more svelte, compact TCR, saving the Propel for flat sprint stages. Now that aerodynamics has become more akin to an evangelical religion for pro teams we're tending to see riders opt for the Propel more often, with the climbers sometimes preferring it to the TCR in the big mountains. 

Matthews will likely stay on his propel throughout the season. Like many bikes in the bunch, including Remco Evenepoel's bike, it is kitted out with a full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 drivetrain; the top-end setup too, no less, with the dual-sided power meter relaying all his data to a Garmin head unit. 

His 170mm cranks turn 54/40t chainrings, which in turn turn a set of 50mm deep CADEX 50 Ultra wheels. These will likely be swapped out for shallower options for more hilly races, but in this setup they certainly match the aero endeavours of the frameset. They're set up tubeless, and shod with CADEX's own Aero tyres. We're yet to test these, and Team Jayco AlUla will be the only team using them this season so we will have to keep a keen eye on how they perform. Matthews opts for a 25mm width for his bikes, except when the terrain necessitates a little more compliance (for Paris-Roubaix, for example). 

The team is sponsored by Cema, a producer of ceramic bearings, so although we can't take the bike apart to check, it's a safe bet to assume the bearings in the hubs, bottom bracket, and headset have been upgraded to ceramic. 

The propel is one of few pro bikes that still features an integrated seatpost, meaning it has to be cut to length for each rider. Atop this, mounted to the adjustable height seatpost clamp, is what we believe to be an updated version of the Giant Fleet SLR saddle. It is unbranded though, so it's impossible to say for sure for now. 

His other contact points are Dura-Ace pedals, naturally, and upfront a Giant Contact SLR Aero handlebar, wrapped in Giant bar tape. To our eyes it looks as if he's opted for the smaller 40cm wide that usually comes on smaller frame sizes, and like we saw from Remco, and on Tadej Pogacar's bike, the brake hoods are turned inwards to allow a more aero position. 

The real talking point on this fairly stock, team issue build is the whopping 140mm stem. It's enormous, allowing Matthews to get into a more aero, stretched-out position. It's not slammed though, with a couple of spacers still below it surrounding the D-shaped steerer tube of the fork. We've seen Matthews using extremely chunky stems in the past to better deal with the torque exerted on them when sprinting out of the saddle and really wrenching on the bars. This stem is large primarily for aero reasons to better integrate with the surrounding componentry, but we suspect a knock-on benefit is an increase in stiffness. It's also got accessible cable routing beneath it, to make the mechanics' lives a little easier. 

Finally, the bottle cages. Rather than opting for an aftermarket model the Propel uses a pair of proprietary cages that integrate with the down- and seat-tubes with a flush transition for better airflow. 

Matthews' Custom Bianchi Oltre XR4

Team BikeExchange-Jayco were all on Giant in 2022, but when the outfit was simply 'Team BikeExchange', Matthews and his teammates were all rolling on Bianchi bikes, usually the Oltre XR4.

For the 2021 Tour de France, he was provided with a custom-painted frame, marking him out as one of the primary leaders of the team, featuring a large iridescent 'Bianchi' logo in place of the usual team issue white. 

The build kit is entirely Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, with Dura-Ace deep section wheels. As ever with custom paint jobs there are often personal touches. This frame has a simple 'Believe' printed on the top tube; something for Michael to read when the going gets tough at the pointy end of each stage, or when in the gruppetto just trying to get over another alpine pass. Or perhaps just a Ted Lasso reference, who knows? 

This frame has been superseded now by the new Bianchi Oltre, which features in-built air deflectors that were immediately banned by the UCI.  

Matthews' 2019 Team Sunweb Cervelo S5

Given the ubiquity of disc brakes now across the pro peloton it's hard to imagine a time without them. There was a time when rim brakes and discs rubbed shoulders in the same peloton, around 2019. At this point Matthews and his Sunweb teammates opted for discs aboard their S5 bikes (The Cervelo S5 is another bike that has recently been updated, now seen under team Jumbo-Visma).

Not a commemorative bike by any stretch, but this edition of the S5 was certainly noteworthy for its 'flying-V' integrated bar/stem combo, and, on a biomechanical level, Matthews' use of 172.5mm cranks here as opposed to the 170mm cranks he's on currently. 

As per the Bianchi Oltre XR4, the build kit and the wheels is all Dura-Ace Di2. 

Michael Matthews' Sunweb Giant TCR Advanced SL

While the propel is the bike of choice for Michael nowadays, back in 2017 he was aboard a Giant TCR Advanced SL. Aside from the obvious differences (rim brakes, being the most obvious), you'll notice the TCR has narrower tubes, is less aero, and the triangles that the tubes form are smaller thanks to the dropped top tube; TCR stands for Total Compact Road, meaning compact geometry.

As with the Cervelo, the build is entirely Dura-Ace, but here we can see Matthews' preferred massive sprinters stem, which looks slightly out of place on the svelte TCR frame. 

Michael Matthews' Green Jersey Scott Foil 

The green jersey goes to the rider who picks up the most sprint points (at both stage finishes and intermediate sprints) across the Tour de France. Matthews won the green jersey in 2016, holding it throughout much of the race and bagging his first Tour stage win not only in the green jersey, but aboard a special green Scott Foil. 

Another wholly Dura-Ace build here, but the historically pretty 9070 series Di2 components, the first of the electronic shifting Dura-Ace family. 

Usually, this edition of the Scott Foil would come with an integrated bar and stem combo, but as ever Matthews is committed to a whopping 140mm stem, so used 42cm Pro Vibe bars instead.

Michael Matthews' Pink Scott Foil

A green jersey is one thing, but the leader's jersey at any Grand Tour is always going to be a highlight of a rider's palmares. In 2014 a fresh-faced Matthews swung his leg over a special pink Scott Foil after his Orica-GreenEdge team took the opening team time trial 

As is becoming repetitive at this point it's another full Dura-Ace build, the same early 9050 Di2 components, but the stem looks a little less chunky than we've come to expect in his later career years.