Michael Matthews set for Tour de France fitness test as Jayco boss offers hopeful update

Jayco AlUla General Manager Brent Copeland believes the stage 2 crash at this year's Giro d'Italia changed the dynamics of the race, derailing his team's stage ambitions and forcing UAE Team Emirates-XRG into a tactical rethink that had consequences for the entire peloton.

Speaking on the Domestique Hotseat podcast, Copeland reflected on a Giro that began with ambitions for both stage victories and a high placing in the GC with Ben O’Connor. Among their ranks was two-time Giro stage winner Andrea Vendrame

“We went into it with a group of riders that we knew would be able to get some good stage wins with Andrea Vendrame, who was in exceptional condition, as well as Felix Engelhardt,” Copeland said. “On paper, there were at least six stages that were good for their characteristics.”

While targeting stage victories, the team were also targeting a strong GC ride with Ben O’Connor, who had finished 4th in 2024. Copeland confirmed that the Giro was the first part of a double-header for the Australian with the Tour de France in the summer. 

“The idea was to try and get some stage wins there, and Gene Bates, together with the performance team, worked around that idea with Ben O'Connor going for GC to see how far he can go, to see how deep he can go, knowing that he's going to be doing the Tour de France as well.”

However, those stage hunting plans were thrown into disarray by the major crash on stage 2 in Bulgaria, which saw a brief neutralisation of the race and a number of riders impacted. 

Despite being able to finish the stage, Vendrame was forced to abandon the race ahead of stage 3, having suffered fractures to three transverse processes in his lower back. Engelhardt suffered from illness during the opening week and was forced to abandon after stage 5.

“On paper, cycling is always easy,” Copeland said. “Unfortunately, on the second day, we all saw the terrible accident and the situation that the organisers were put under, the riders were put under, and many of the teams lost a number of their good riders.”

Another team who were deeply impacted were UAE Team Emirates-XRG. Marc Soler and Jay Vine were forced to abandon, and GC leader Adam Yates was able to finish the stage, but like Vendrame, he didn't take the start the following day.

“Unfortunately, one of them was Andrea Vendrame, and I think it would have been a totally different Giro if Adam Yates wasn't taken out in that stage as well.”

Copeland believes the loss of Yates had ramifications far beyond UAE's own ambitions, changing the tactical complexion of the race and making life harder for teams chasing stage victories.

“A huge, huge impact. I think it changed the dynamics of the whole Giro,” he said. “Having a UAE team that's got a potential GC winner that could have put on a better spectacle with a race with Jonas [Vingegaard] would have been a completely different Giro.”

While Copeland stopped short of suggesting Yates could have beaten Vingegaard overall, he explained how UAE’s shift in priorities impacted the other teams. 

“UAE had to reshuffle their cards, had to look at what they could do with the stage wins, started getting more stage wins, sending riders up the road in the breaks,” he said. “So it changed a lot of the dynamics for many of the teams.”

In the end, UAE picked up four stage wins, three via Jhonatan Narváez, and one courtesy of Igor Arrieta. Vingegaard scored five stage wins en route to overall victory and Sepp Kuss added to the tally on the queen stage. 

Paul Magnier also scored a hat-trick of sprint wins, and XDS Astana won three stages with Guillermo Thomas Silva, Davide Ballerini and Alberto Bettiol. 

The stage-winning dominance of a handful of teams meant that by Rome, many teams left without a stage victory, including Jayco AlUla. Meanwhile, O'Connor slipped from the top ten overall in the final week, ending sixteenth overall. 

“So it was not easy. But if you look at the Giro as well, at the end of the day, nine teams won stages. That's 39% of the 23 teams who were able to win a stage,” said Copeland. 

Attention has now turned to the Tour de France, where Copeland discussed the potential return of Michael Matthews. The former points classification and four-time stage winner suffered a training crash at the start of March in which he fractured both wrists. 

Matthews shared a public update in mid-April detailing his road to recovery, but the Australian has yet to make his return to racing. 

Copeland remains hopeful about Matthews’ ability to be fit and firing by July 4 when the Tour kicks off. 

“To send Michael [Matthews] to the Tour? Yeah, absolutely,” Copeland said when asked if the team hope to include the Australian in their Tour plans. 

“He's such a quality rider, and Michael is a rider that gives 200% in his training and his recovery, and he's done everything that he can to be in the best condition.”

Matthews had also been ruled out of the 2025 Tour after being diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. 

Copeland confirmed to Domestique that Matthews will test his form at the Critérium du Dauphiné before a final decision is made, but there is optimism and belief in the Jayco AlUla camp that the Australian star will be ready in time for La Grande Boucle.

Listen to the full Hotseat episode with Brent Copeland 👇