'I honestly feel there are bigger things to come' - Michael Matthews has renewed enthusiasm for cycling and for life after pulmonary embolism scare

Michael Matthews endured one of the most difficult moments of his long career and arguably of his life when he suffered a pulmonary embolism in June. Yet true to character, the Australian is already training hard for 2026, fueled by a renewed enthusiasm for cycling and for life.

He is already doing longer rides and efforts at the Jayco-AlUla training camp in Spain. "December camps are not what they used to be, that's for sure," Matthews joked during an exclusive interview with Cyclingnews.

"December used to be about doing steady hours and everything else that you don't have time for during the season. Now, December is like the old January; we're already doing threshold efforts. Times have changed, that's for sure."

Matthews turned 35 in September and has been a professional since 2011, after he won the under-23 world championships in Australia. He is no longer the blonde-haired 'Bling' of back then but is far from being a gnarly old pro, counting the days to the end of his career. He has extended his contract with Jayco-AlUla until the end of 2027 and is not even thinking of retirement.

"I don't drink, and I don't party. I don't do any of the stuff that probably ages you faster than normal, so maybe that's helped me to stay young and means I'm still able to compete with these young talents coming through," he suggested as the reason for his elixir of youth.

"The health problems I had this year were obviously a massive scare, but at the same time, I feel like they've given me a second chance in cycling. I feel like it's a rebirth of my career. My new contract also gives me extra motivation, too. I honestly feel there are bigger things to come.

"I'm not really putting an end date on my career. It could come at any time, but at the moment, I'm just loving riding my bike. I love being with my teammates, I love racing, and I love competing. I honestly haven't even thought about retirement."

"I didn't know if I was going to die that night or survive"

Matthews was training at altitude in Livigno, on the Italian-Swiss border, in June when he suffered a pulmonary embolism. He was finishing a three-week block of work and ready to target stages at the Tour de France.

Yet he gradually felt worse and struggled to complete a final training session or even go for a post-ride walk. He heeded advice from his wife to go for blood checks, and doctors suddenly insisted he stay in the hospital as he was treated with blood thinners. He was lucky the embolism didn't reach his brain.

"It was probably one of the most scary things I've ever had to deal with in my life," Matthews admitted.

"I was suddenly in hospital, and I didn't know if I was going to die that night or survive. The doctors said that if I'd kept training, I would have killed myself within two days."

Matthews needed to take blood-thinning medicines for three months, but doctors told him there was no risk of a repeat embolism. It left a mark on his racing calendar and season hopes, but there do not appear to be any mental scares or fears for the future.

"I feel like it's a second opportunity for me in cycling because I realised my career could have been done," Matthews said.

"I feel it's a second chance for me to show what I'm really, really capable of. That's what I kept thinking when I was training to come back. I was obviously scared, but was so happy that I was able to still ride my bike.

"I still feel like I'm 25 and I'm enjoying my second youth. I'm still attacking my teammates out in training, and I'm normally the one that wants to do the extra training. The motivation is definitely still there, and I've a massive smile on my face every time I get up in the morning."

Matthews had to miss the Tour de France and be extremely careful in training while taking blood thinners, but he made a comeback at the Bretagne Classic at the end of August and even finished eighth in the sprint.

He then raced every time he could, all the way to the Japan Cup in mid-October. He won a second rainbow jersey with Australia in the Mixed Relay team time trial at the World Championships and even went in the early break at Il Lombardia, spending 198km on the attack.

"I was just so happy to pin a number on again," Matthews said.

He will take the same enthusiasm into the 2026 season.

He is expected to have a gradual European build-up to the new season and so will not travel to Australia for the Tour Down Under. However, the goals remain the same, with serious ambitions for the Spring Classics, all the way from Milan-San Remo to Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

He hopes to return to the Tour de France to target stages, and the road world championships in Montreal in September are a huge goal. He has won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec three times and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal in 2018.

"The off-season went really well, and I felt really good on the bike straight away, even though I had four weeks off. I think it's probably the best I felt in December, so hopefully there are good things to come this year," Matthews said.

Cyclingnews highlighted Matthews' impressive but cruel Milan-San Remo record. He has ridden La Classicissima 12 times, finished in the top ten seven times and was second in 2024, when his sunglasses fell off in the Via Roma sprint, and he lost to Jasper Philpsen by just a few millimetres.

"I suppose I have a love-hate relationship with Milan-San Remo," Matthews admitted.

"It's obviously a race that suits me, and it's obviously a race that I've done well in the past, but it's been cruel to me too. You just need your cards to fall in the right way, it's quite a lottery, but it has never gone my way."

Matthews' friend and training companion, Tadej Pogačar, has yet to win Milan-San Remo, and he and UAE Team Emirates-XRG have made the race harder with attacks on the Cipressa in recent years.

"It's become more of an attacking race where it used to be a sprinter's race, but there's nothing I can do about that," Matthews said.

"I have to make sure that I'm ready to go when the attacks happen, react to the situation and hopefully somehow finish it off. It's definitely my first big goal of 2026."