Sunweb will release Michael Matthews from his contract at the end of 2020
Michael Matthews is set to leave Sunweb one year earlier than expected.
The team announced on Sunday that Matthews, who is contracted through 2021, had asked to be able to “look for new opportunities after 2020 elsewhere,” and that Sunweb “decided to cooperate on the move.”
Matthews has been with the Sunweb organization since coming aboard from Orica-GreenEdge at the start of 2017. The 29-year-old Australian has collected some strong results in his time with the team, including two stage wins and the green jersey at the 2017 Tour de France and several WorldTour one-day victories.
Despite his resume, Matthews was not selected for the team’s Tour roster, a decision that apparently came as something of a surprise to Matthews, who has shown strong form in the resumed racing season with a podium performance at Milan-San Remo and a WorldTour win just five days ago at the Bretagne Classic.
“The team is very ambitious and increasingly want to work with a broader collective of riders deeper in the finales of classics and sprint races,” Matthews said in a press release from Sunweb. “Those tactics do not ideally fit with my ambitions and specific strengths to sprint for the wins. For that reason, I decided to ask permission to investigate opportunities to look for a different team and I appreciate that Team Sunweb was open for this.”
Matthews will not be the first rider leaving Sunweb before his contract is up. Over the past few seasons, big names like Marcel Kittel, Warren Barguil, and Tom Dumoulin have all left the squad early.
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