Six weeks after breaking both of his arms in a training crash, Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) is back on the bike and closer to putting what he described as a “difficult period” behind him.
“I just want to thank the team for all their support, for all of your messages – I’m trying to get back to all of you, but for a long time, I couldn’t use any of my fingers on my hands, so it was obviously really difficult to reply to you all, but I was thinking about all your messages, and I really appreciate it,” he said in a video posted by his team on Instagram.
The 35-year-old had just finished an altitude camp and was gearing up for the Spring Classics when he crashed on March 5. Matthews gave no details about how the crash happened but described his serious injuries.
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“I had a really bad training accident where I had a really bad open fracture on my left arm, cut tendons on my thumb, a broken wrist, a broken thumb [on his right hand] – so it was two different surgeries,” Matthews said while gesturing with his hands.
“The first surgery, we had to do it straight away in Italy for the left arm. And after a few days in Italy, we flew to Belgium … to do the surgery for the tendon on my right thumb. Also, a sinus fracture in the face, as you can see, probably the stitches still healing in the face.”
Matthews also shared X-ray imaging of his arms showing two plates – one in his radius and one in the humerus of his left arm – and photos from just after the accident showing a bandage on his cheek and a black left eye.
“It’s been a process. It’s been long. It’s been six weeks now since the accident. I have almost full movement back in my fingers, which I’m very, very happy about. I think it was three weeks with no exercise at all, so that was quite difficult for me,” he said.
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“After that, I could start with some fast-paced walking and a little bit of gym to keep the muscles in my legs. And after I think it was four weeks, I could jump back on the home trainer on Zwift and got some good sessions on there – short, but just to keep the body moving. I’m third day back on the road now, still with casts on the bike, but just really happy to be back on the bike.”
It’s the second serious health issue that Matthews has had in the past year. He was out of action for almost four months in 2025 after winning Eschborn-Frankfurt after suffering a pulmonary embolism, missing the Tour de France.
He recovered, and went on to win a world title in the Mixed Team Relay at the UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda.
Matthews began the 2026 but winning the Gran Premio Castellón and taking a podium in the Mallorca Challenge team time trial in January.
Although Matthews is still slated to defend his title in the Eschborn-Frankfurt on May 1, that could be too soon. His next scheduled competition is the Tour de France, although his team have not yet updated his programme.
“It’s been a difficult period,” Matthews said. “I was just finished a really good training camp with my team at altitude, getting ready for this big Classic block – the part of the season I really enjoy the most. So I’m sad I can’t be there, but my team is performing really well, so I’m really happy about that, and I can’t wait to be back on the road and see you guys soon.”
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