Ticket to ride — Matt Hayman’s 15-year Tour de France wait is finally over

THE Tour de France is the highlight of the season for any professional cyclist. Aussie Mathew Hayman, at 36, is about to experience the feeling for the first time.

Mathew Hayman (centre) will make his Tour de France debut at the age of 36 this weekend. Picture: GreenEDGE.

THE Tour de France is supposed to be the highlight of every cyclist’s season but all Mathew Hayman has ever known in July has been training camps and nondescript races in Austria or Belgium.

But on Saturday night, after a 15-year wait, the 36-year-old Sydney-born cyclist will become the oldest Tour de France debutant of the modern era when he joins his Orica-GreenEDGE teammates on the start line in Leeds.

Hayman is 21 days older than Canadian teammate Svein Tuft who broke the record when he debuted in the world’s biggest bike race last year.

Back then Hayman was still riding for Team Sky and watched the race on TV no differently to how anyone else would in their loungeroom.

But now not only is he making his Tour debut for Australia’s only WorldTour team, he has also been declared its captain.

“It’s a bit strange, I keep feeling like something should be different but it feels like just any other race at the moment,” Hayman told News Limited this week.

“And I keep pinching myself and saying ‘no, no I’m going to the Tour’ and it’s the big one.

“I’ve barely missed out on the (spring) classics my entire career and that’s what I enjoy doing the most, but this is the biggest race.

“Early on there wasn’t a problem (missing out) and it would go by every year and I’d think ‘oh yeah one day I’ll do that’ and then it started to dawn on me after a little while that time is running out.”

Hayman, who is a big (190cm), strong and physically intimidating figure on the bike, turned professional in 2000 with Dutch team Rabobank and in 2006 won a gold medal at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

In 2010 he joined British outfit Sky and progressed into one of the best classics riders of the peloton - finishing third in Dwars Door Vlaanderen in 2013 and eighth in Paris-Roubaix in 2012.

But each year of his career, a start in the Tour de France eluded him leaving him to either go on a training camp at altitude or race the Tour of Austria or Tour de Wallonie.

“At Sky in 2011 I was pretty much told before the Tour of Suisse that ‘you’re looking pretty good for riding in the Tour so keep that under wraps and work towards that’,” he said.

“And then I had a crash warming up for the time trial at the Tour of Suisse and broke a couple of ribs and it was all off.

“A few other times when riders had fallen out or were sick coming in it was on the cards, but it was never as real as this year when I’ve been able to spend a few months working towards it and I was able to do the Classics and then focus on this.”

Hayman is one of four Australian debutants in this year’s Tour, along with Victorian Zak Dempster (27), WA’s Luke Durbridge (23) and Canberra’s Michael Matthews (23).

Their inclusion marks a significant milestone for Australian cycling as the nation notches its 50th starter in the Tour’s history.

Hayman’s strong and consistent performances in the one-day classics mean he is one rider who won’t be dreading the cobblestones which threaten to blow Stage 5 wide open on Wednesday.

“I went with Simon Clarke yesterday (Thursday) and we rode all the sections before getting on the flight to come here (UK),” he said.

“It’s quite different to riding with a lot of grass around and cornfields, it was hard to recognise a lot of it, and doing most of the sections backwards (to Paris-Roubaix).

“It’s going to be interesting but when you have a look at a couple of the teams you see which guys are also classics specialists because there’s plenty of them in there.

“But which guys on that day will be asked to protect the leader of their team for the GC or contest the stage (remains to be seen).”

Orica-GreenEDGE director Matt White said Hayman was the right man to captain the team which is gunning for stage wins with the likes of Simon Gerrans and Michael Matthews.

Last year it won the team time trial and held the yellow jersey for four days.

“He might not have done the Tour de France, but he has done nearly every single race on the calendar,” White said.

“It’s his first Tour de France, but he is more than ready. He is a very good tactician, a calming influence and a strong leader.”

It’s that calming influence which means Hayman won’t allow himself to be distracted by the sideshow that is the three-week Tour de France.

“I keep telling myself it’s going to be bigger but it’s still same guys that I was racing (against) last week,” he said.

“And it’s all the stuff going on around it, not the actual bike race that's going to change.

“We’ve definitely got a strong team and a team that’s going to be a protagonist, looking out for any type of opportunities, we’re not a team to sit back and control or try to keep the calm.

“With Simon (Gerrans) he’s always on isn’t he? Whenever he has an opportunity he’s always there and if he isn’t then he’s pretty close.”

Originally published as Ticket to ride — Matt Hayman’s 15-year Tour de France wait is finally over