Even amid the ecstasy of cheering and applause at the end of the final stage of the BinckBank Tour in Geraardsbergen, Michael Matthews made himself heard. The Australian´s repeated, guttural cries of `Yeah´ started as he crossed the finish line and continued as he slowed to a stop and unclipped from his bike. Lest any of his Sunweb teammates were still unsure of the result, Matthews held the microphone of his radio close to mouth to make one final exclamation, before he sat, exhausted, on the cobbles of Vesten, the thoroughfare through Geraardsbergen that serves as the anteroom to the Muur itself. Matthews´ 2018 season has been more endured than enjoyed to this point. A crash in his opening race, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, rather tempered his Classics campaign. A puncture cost him dearly at Amstel Gold Race. A suspected bout of food poisoning forced him out of the Tour de France in the opening week.ADVERTISEMENT Come the BinckBank Tour, Matthews was a man in search of himself: earlier in the week, he confessed, `I don´t really know where I´m at anymore.` Sunday´s finale in the Flemish Ardennes provided a reassuring answer. After three fraught laps of circuit that included the Muur and the Bosberg, Matthews produced a rasping uphill sprint to overhaul Greg Van Avermaet and claim his second victory of the season, and his first in a road race. `I finally showed that I still am capable of winning with all the setbacks I`ve had with my shoulder and being sick and having crashes all through the season,` Matthews said afterwards. `I had no results, but it wasn`t because I had really bad legs, I was just unlucky. This week I`ve tried to switch my head around, stay focused and finish it off with a good result, whether it was me or Søren Kragh Andersen. To come out and win the sprint today after Søren sacrificed himself for me to bring that breakaway back is the icing of the cake. For the team to believe in me, to believe that I can still win, it´s really special.` Matth ...
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