After a training injury ruled him out of the Tour de France despite attending the presentation last year, Orica-Greenedge fast man Michael Matthews is finally ready to make his Tour de France debut.

He is in the form of his life, with 2015 bringing the Australian podiums in all three one-day races he has ridden (Milan-Sanremo, Amstel Gold and Brabantse Pijl) and he has won at least one stage in the four stage races he has ridden (Paris-Nice, Giro, Basque Country and Suisse). But he says he doesn’t think too much about the statistics. 

"It's a nice statistic that everyone is mentioning at the moment and it's been really nice to win a stage in every tour I've done so far," he said to Cyclingnews. "When you think about it seems pretty unreal. I am not really thinking about too much about it. I put a lot of stress on myself ahead of last year's Tour and had a big crash the day I was meant to leave.”

"This year, I know I've done all the preparation and at this stage its just relax as much as possible until the race starts. We've basically devoted our whole season to be the best for now and we know that I am going well so we just need to try and get to start line and see what happens."

But he received a huge confidence boost when be beat Sagan directly at the Tour de Suisse, a man who will rival him in the reduced finishes in France.

"For my confidence, it's nice to get one over Sagan in a sprint as well going into the Tour. I have never really done that before so it's nice to get that done heading into my first Tour," he explained of the rider he sees as being one of his "biggest competitors” at the Tour de France.

He also has eyes on the Yellow Jersey to complete his set, as he is a good time trialists over short distances and knows bonus seconds in the sprints could help him.

"It's definitely always in the back of my mind the Utrecht time trial, I don't think its possible to win the first time trial but it would be nice to be around the mark and close to the yellow jersey in case something happens in the next few stages and I can attempt to get the yellow jersey. It's more about trying not to lose too much time really," he said.

Matthews has won stages in the last four Grand Tours he has started and says he has earmarked stages to keep that run going in France.

"There are a few stages that really suit me but it comes down to the team's decision as we have a few guys with the same capabilities so it's up the team to make the decision on who we ride for," he said. "Stage 8 is looking really good and before then, I am not really sure what the team wants to do but we'll see what happens." 

He says that it will be hard for him to contest the Green Jersey as his team has so many riders looking to win stages that it will be hard to support a bid.

"It's hard to target when we have a few different guys going for different stages," he said. "The green jersey needs to be one outright rider going for stages and if you have a few different riders going for those stages, it makes it difficult because you need to be going for every single point you can along the road at the finishes. It's a long race and it can change very fast."