Sunweb sport director Matt Winston said "exposure" is the team's main goal for the remainder of the condensed 2020 season, and one of the reasons star sprinter Michael Matthews has made significant changes to his race program ...

During a visit to the team's training camp in Austria, Winston spoke to Cycling News about the German-registered team's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the team to suspend the World Tour season after Paris-Nice in March.

Matthews had been preparing for a campaign centered on the Ardennes Classics and Tour de France since the beginning of the season, but last week the team instead decided to focus on Milan-San Remo (August 8), Il Lombardia (August 15), Bretagne Classique d'Ouest-France (August August 25), Tirreno-Adriatico (September 7-14), and the Giro d'Italia (October 3-25), leaving the Australians baffled.

In Sunweb, senior team management devises a race program and sends a draft to the race coach for input. The coaches inform the athletes of the schedule, and the athletes ask for feedback as well. Matthews was scheduled to speak with team management late last week about revising the direction, but has not yet done so.

In an effort to stave off the possibility of COVID-19 infection, Sunweb has set up its schedule in such a way that riders are divided into three different "bubbles," each participating in a predetermined number of races and spending the rest of the season together.

"The program and the decisions we make at the beginning of the year are subject to change depending on the condition of the condition and the riders. So we would outline the race program at the beginning of the year and the riders would have an approximate schedule from January onwards, depending on what was going on at the time," Winston said.

"But one of the important things for all the teams, when you look at the race calendar, given the impact of the Coronavirus and the temporary interruption in the season, is exposure to the next part of the season.

"All the bases need to be covered to get started. The race program and lineup gives us the option to cover all the bases and get running.

"So we look at the opportunities of where we can win races and who we can win races with. If you look at Milan-San Remo, Lombardia, and Plouay, they are all races where you think, 'Michael Matthews can win. If you go to Tirreno or the Giro and look at the harder sprint stages, it's still the same thing.

"You have to balance the team. It's a condensed program. There are some really talented riders and you look at the big picture and think about where you can win races and where you can get exposure. [As you can see from Michael's race program, it's his best chance to really get into it and win races. Honestly, I'm really excited to see what he can do in that lineup."

"I worked with him last year in some races and I knew he had potential. He was right there in the thick of it. If he can connect all the dots this year, and if we can work with him and with the team and connect the dots, I think he can be quite successful this fall."

Sunweb's approach to the Grand Tours has varied this year. In the Tour de France, he plans to employ an opportunistic plan of attack with Tiesj Benoot, Nicolas Roche, and Ciesse Boll. In the Giro, Sunweb will look to Matthews and Wilco Kelderman for stage and overall wins, respectively. Kelderman, supported by Sam Omen, will be aiming for a top-five overall finish.

Thanks to sponsorship, Sunweb has rented an entire hotel for a training camp in Austria that will include the entire team except for Matthews, who is training alone in Italy. At this training camp, the entire team is staying at the hotel, except for Matthews, who is training alone in Italy.

"We've worked really hard to make sure the camp is safe. So we have the hotel all to ourselves, we work in different bubbles, and we never cross those bubbles. Everyone is tested before they go to the camp, and as a result, we get really tough on mixed bloods. We make sure that doesn't happen. At camp it will be like a football team, but you can wave to your teammates in the lobby," Winston said.