Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) was in tears beyond the finish line of Milan-San Remo as he realised how close he had gone to victory. He hugged his daughter and indicated he had lost by 'millimetres' as the race and the shoulder-to-shoulder sprint with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) perhaps flashed before his eyes.
Matthews was recently forced out of Paris-Nice due to sickness but was on a great day and could perhaps see victory ahead of him on the Via Roma, only for Philipsen to beat him in a photo finish.
It was his third time on the Milan-San Remo podium, his best result so far, and his sixth top-10 finish in the Italian race.
"To be close to the win means I'm feeling mixed vibes at the moment," he said to Cyclingnews and other media in the podium area.
"I'm obviously happy with the podium, but being so close, it's bittersweet. I think tomorrow morning, I'll be happy with my performance but right now, being this close to a Monument after so many podiums, it's hard."
Matthews stayed well protected and on the wheels during the long ride to San Remo and over the Cipressa as UAE Team Emirates tried but failed to shake out the front group.
After Tadej Pogačar's double attack on the Poggio with Mathieu van der Poel, Matthews was in the select group that joined them after the descent of the Poggio and suddenly realised he had a chance of victory.
"Ohh it went fast…" he said of the 46.112 kph average speed, a new record speed for the race. "With so many guys going up the road, it was always going to be a fast day. We expected UAE to be stronger but they bluffed a lot. That opened up to a different race.
"This time last week I was sitting on the couch not knowing if I'd even start Milan-San Remo. I was grateful I had legs," he added.
"I positioned myself well in the sprint. I didn't realise how reduced the bunch was. When I saw that Lidl-Trek had a good lead-out, I focused on them and my own sprint. I knew that Philipsen was on my wheel and tough to beat because he's possibly the fastest guy in the world at the moment."
Matthews revealed a detail of the sprint that could have made a difference but didn't use it as an excuse.
"I'm not sure if people saw but my glasses fell off with 50 metres to go and I had to stop pedalling for a second," he revealed. "That's when Philipsen came past me. It sucks but I can't change it now."
Matthews sportingly opted not to close the door on Philipsen as the Belgian came up along the barriers in the Via Roma sprint finish, the closing seconds of a six-hour marathon from Pavia.
"I could have closed him to the barrier but I want to ride a fair sprint," he said.
"I want to win because I was the strongest, not because he had to brake. If he was able to come past he was the better rider on the day."
