Canberra's Michael Matthews has won the silver medal in a monumental edition of the elite men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships.
On Sunday afternoon in Montréal (local time), after 273 kilometres of on-the-limit racing, Matthews sprinted to finish at the head of a chase group 13 seconds behind the solo winner.
With 75 kilometres still remaining on the tough local circuits, the ARA Australian Cycling Team rider had bridged to a select group of favourites just behind the front of the race.
Matthews leads a group of favourites on the Montréal circuit.
What followed was a breathless two hours of unrelenting action as the best riders in the world traded blow after blow in pursuit of the rainbow bands. Matthews rode superbly, matching the climbers on the steep hills, following explosive attacks on all terrain, and timing accelerations of his own to place himself in medal contention.
While star rivals such as Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), Paul Seixas (France) and Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) fell by the wayside, Matthews produced one of his career-best performances in the Australian colours.
After Brandon McNulty (United States) broke away with 34km to go, Matthews continued racing impressively with the favourites' group, but the American would not be brought back.
Matthews (left) on the wheel of the eventual winner from the USA.
In the final kilometre, Matthews followed an attack by Ben Healy (Ireland), then came past to lead the chasers onto the uphill finishing straight. Leading out his sprint incredibly from 600 metres to go, Matthews emptied the legs to hold off a charging Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) to clinch the silver medal.
The 36-year-old adds to his impressive medal collection that includes two bronze (2017, 2022) and another silver (2015) in the elite men's road race, and two gold medals in the mixed relay team time trial (2024, 2025) − showing unrivalled longevity after winning the under-23 men's road race in Geelong back in 2010.
The Canberran leads home the sprint for second place.
"Honestly, I wasn't sure exactly how today was going to go," Matthews said after the race. "The field was so strong. Leading into the race, I was quietly confident, but the world championships is always a bit of a lottery."
"Being here with a silver medal around my neck is amazing after what I've been through the last two years. I just got beaten by a better bike rider today ... chapeau to Brandon," he said.
Elite men's road race record: 2x silver, 2x bronze.
It's a remarkable result from two seasons of serious setbacks: Matthews broke both wrists in a horrific crash in March and missed a large portion of the 2025 season due to a pulmonary embolism.
“It’s not only the way I raced the race today, after what I’ve been through the last two years with the embolism in my lungs thinking my career was done, to breaking both my arms at start of this year and thinking my career was done," he said in a team statement. "Now, bouncing back to being second in the world’s road race, I’m just speechless, honestly."
Canada has been a happy hunting ground for Matthews, originally from Vikings Cycling Club in the ACT, who has previously won the
GP Cycliste de Montréal and three editions of the GP Cycliste de Québec.
"I stayed here between [GP] Québec and Montréal, did a really good training block here," Matthews said about his preparation. "I had the triple-T [team time trial] on Wednesday and I knew the feeling was really good. I just needed to make sure it all came together on the day.
"I'm pretty speechless I'm sitting here with a silver medal around my neck.
"I said to my wife at the start today, ‘let’s just leave it all out there and be proud of the ride and at the end of the day make sure I finish with nothing left,' and that’s exactly what happened today.
"When I crossed the finish line I put my head in my hands, almost in disbelief at what just happened.
"Honestly, it’s just credit to my family, to the team, to all the support crew around me that didn’t stop believing that this could happen right now. I just I owe everything to them."
Results | Elite Men Road Race
1. Brandon McNulty (USA) 27:40.72
2. Michael Matthews (AUS) +13
3. Mathieu van der Poel (NED) +13
40. Michael Storer (AUS) +6:48
42. Jack Haig (AUS) +6:53
53. Jai Hindley (AUS) +10:00
Photos: SWpix.com