But with a flat finish on the 177km second stage into Genoa, Matthews is hoping to trade up for the maglia rosa, currently held by teammate Simon Gerrans.
"It's a sprint stage. We have a really good team for lead-out train for me for the final sprint, and hopefully I'll have the legs to finish it up," Matthews said of stage 2.
The 24-year-old is no stranger to the pink jersey, having worn it last year for six days himself, one of those days coincided with his stage victory in Montecassino.
"It's been really good for the past two years here in the Giro, having the pink jersey for 8 days last year, and winning the stage in the pink jersey, and the team winning the TTT last year and again now, hopefully it keeps going up from here."
