Matthews details severe injuries and shares positive recovery update six weeks after training crash

The 35-year-old Australian had made a positive start to 2026, winning the GP Castellón in Spain at the start of January. However, Matthews suffered a training crash on March 5, with Jayco Alula confirming that he fractured both of his wrists, ruling him out of the Paris-Nice and the spring Classics, where he has featured in many previous seasons. 

In a post to social media on Saturday, Matthews opened up about the significant extent of his injuries and the long and arduous road to recovery that has followed.

"I had an open fracture in my left arm, cut tendons in my thumb, broken wrist, broken thumb, so it was two different surgeries,” said Matthews.

“The first one was straight away in Italy for the left arm, and after a few days in Italy, we flew to Belgium to do the surgery for the tendon on my right thumb. Also, a sinus fracture in the face, the stitches are still healing in the face,” said Matthews. 

“So yeah, it’s been a process. It’s been long; it’s been six weeks now since the accident. I have almost full movement back in my fingers, which I’m very happy about."

This isn’t the first prolonged absence for Matthews in recent times, as he suffered a pulmonary embolism in June last year during an altitude camp. This ruled him out of the Tour de France as well as racing full stop until the end of August. The Australian confirmed that after some indoor riding, he is back on the roads training, albeit with casts still on.

“It’s been long, I think it was three weeks with no exercise at all, so that was quite difficult for me, but after that I could start with some fast-paced walking and a bit of gym to keep the muscles in my legs,” said Matthews. 

“After four weeks, I could jump back on the home trainer and on Zwift, and got some good sessions on there. Short, but just to keep the body moving. I’m on the third day back on the road now, still with casts on the bike, but just happy to be back on the bike.”

Matthews acknowledged the messages of support he has received since the accident and the struggle with responding to them all due to the nature of his injuries.

“I just want to thank the team for all their support. All your messages, I’m trying to get back to all of you, but for a long time, I couldn’t use any of my fingers or hands, so it was obviously difficult to reply to you all. But I was thinking about your messages, and I really appreciate it.”

Despite the absence of Matthews, Jayco Alula still has plenty to be positive about for the Ardennes Classics to come. Anders Foldager sprinted to the biggest win of his career on Friday at the Brabantse Pijl, and Swiss champion Mauro Schmid, who won the Coppi e Bartali at the end of March. 

“It’s been a difficult period, I was just finishing a really good camp with my team, at altitude, getting ready for the big Classics block, the part of the season I really enjoy most,” said Matthews. 

“So I’m sad I can’t be there, but my team is performing really well, I’m happy about that, and I can’t wait to be back on the road and see you soon.”