Michael Matthews has not changed, but the circumstances surrounding him have. Over the past few seasons, the Australian's success was no longer commensurate with his extravagant talent, even if his dexterity and consistency remained intact.

Since leaving Sunweb and rejoining Bike Exchange-Jayco in early 2021, Matthews has routinely been in contention for the big prize, but his win tally in the season and a half leading up to the Tour de France was paltry: a victory in the Volta a Catalunya in March, a victory in the Tour of Catalunya in March, a victory in the Tour de France in August, a victory in the Tour of Catalunya in September, and a victory in the Tour of Catalunya in September, It was his only victory since winning the Bretagne Classics in August 2020.

On Saturday in Mende, Matthews won his fourth career Tour de France stage victory and first in five years on the final climb of the Côte de Croix Neuve in a hard-fought battle with fellow escapee Alberto Bettiol (EF Education First-Easy Post) The Canberra native has had a successful Tour de France so far. The Canberra native's previous successes at the Tour have come in sprints, but he took a slightly different approach to this year's race.

"Am I a different rider now? Probably not," Matthews said sitting in the press conference room after the race. But sometimes, especially in the Tour de France, you have to adapt to the role you are given."

"I knew I was going to have Dylan Groenewegen as my flat sprinter, so I adjusted my training so that I could climb and not focus too much on the flat sprint. But we needed to adapt to this tool in order to support the team.

Matthews insisted that the arrival of Gronewegen, the winner of stage 3 in Sønderborg, was a relief rather than an imposition: a year ago, Matthews had spread himself too thin, carrying the burden of chasing Tour success for the team. This time the task was more specific. He finished second to Tadej Pogacar on stage 6 in Longwy and to Wout Van Aert two days later in Lausanne.

"Last year, we went for flat sprints, climbing stages, and breaking. The pressure was on my shoulders to get a result," Matthews said. Having Dylan, who is arguably the fastest man in the world, took a load off my shoulders. He can handle the flat stages and I can focus on other things.

Madness, as the saying goes, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Matthews, who has lost two sprint races in this Tour, chose a different approach based on a conversation he had with his wife Katharina the night before the stage on the road to Mende.

"In the last few years I've been in the top three or top ten, but no wins," he said. 'It's good to be consistent, but we need wins. I talked to my wife last night and she said that if we want to win, we need to try something different, something that people don't expect."

After a steep approach on the outskirts of Saint-Etienne, Matthews went into the victory break and looked around to see Thibaut Pinot, Leonard Kemna, Marc Soler, and Jakob Fuglsang, all well suited for the final tough climb out of Mende.

"When I saw myself surrounded by 19 climbers, I think it's safe to say I shit my pants," Matthews joked.

"I figured I'd be in front of them all day, wasting my energy with nothing to show for it. But I was on the radio all day with Matt Heyman and he calmed me down and he knew my best option was to get there early and gap the climbers before the climb."

Matthews seized the opportunity with about 50km to go and jumped off the front of the break alone before Felix Grossshaltner and Luis Leon Sanchez bridged. Matthews quickly dropped his companions, but soon realized that Bettiol was closing fast and furious from behind.

When Bettiol caught Matthews less than a kilometer from the summit, it appeared that the spoils would go to the Italian. But Matthews fought hard to keep a few lengths on Bettiol until the final ramp of the climb, and after one strong run, Matthews was behind Bettiol. After another gasp, Matthews swept past Bettiol. From there, the road flattened out, and by the time Matthews entered the final kilometer, victory was almost assured.

"Matt Heyman said over the radio, 'If you ride as hard as you can from the bottom to the top, you can win the stage.' But when Bettiol caught me, I knew I had a little bit left, but not much," Matthews said. But when Bettiol caught me, I knew I had a little bit left in me. I knew I had to attack him right away."

Matthews recalled a run-in with his training partner, Tadej Pogacar, at his home in Monaco. 'Training with him doesn't feel like work, it feels like two kids having fun. Well, I'm not a kid anymore. Well, I'm not a kid anymore, but he is," Matthews said.