Matthews settling in at Sunweb, eyeing Milan-San Remo result

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Australia's Michael Matthews confirmed that he will be skipping the Tour Down Under this January, mentioned Milan-San Remo is a major season target, and gave his first impressions of Sunweb in a Facebook Live interview with Shimano Road on Tuesday.

The versatile 26-year-old is in Calpe, Spain training and getting acquainted with his new squad after four years in the Orica-GreenEdge (Orica-Scott in 2017) organisation.

The time he's spent with Sunweb has given Matthews a good impression thus far.

"Everything is organized, which is really nice. That's the way I like to live my life too, with everything organised," he said. "That's how I feel like you can get the best out of yourself, out of your team, out of that collective group of people is to be organised. The way the team is structured, their organisation over the years has built them up to where they are now. It's one of the best WorldTour teams in the world."

Matthews also addressed his expectations for riding against Orica.

"It'll be difficult after being with the team for four years. A lot of really great memories with the team," he said. "I had a really good time with the team over the last four years. The first few races it's going to be a bit difficult but I still have really good friends in the team and it'll be nice to catch up."

Those first few races apparently won't include the WorldTour opener on Matthews' home turf, the Tour Down Under. Matthews explained that while he'd like to make the start in Australia at some point in the next few years, preparing for his current goals doesn't allow for the trek home. Milan-San Remo is one of those key goals.

"I'm really excited to race Milan-San Remo with a team that has won the race in the past. They know what it takes to win the race. Having these experienced guys around me, its going to make it a big advantage for me and the team to be able to contest the win."