With the uphill finish on stage two of the Tour de France offering a chance to take the Yellow Jersey after what is expected to be a bunch kick on day one, many puncheurs are licking their lips.

One such rider is Michael Matthews of Orica-GreenEDGE, who won a similar stage on the second day of the 2014 Vuelta a Espana to take the leaders jersey then.

“We did the recon three days ago with half the team in the morning, and the other half did it in the afternoon, so we know the run-in,” he told the media at Orica-BikeExchange’s pre-Tour press conference. “We know the last 100 kilometres is really quite technical, on small roads, and I think the crosswinds are going to make a big difference on the race. It’s meant to be 20-30km/h on the day and a bit of rain so it’ll be a sketchy race.”

Matthews also confirmed rumours he wouldn’t be sprinting for the win on the opening day, as he believes it to be too risky.

“It’s not on the list of things to do. It’s definitely too sketchy especially the first stage. It’s really technical and on small roads, the sprint teams are going to try and make it hard for everyone else. We don’t really have a sprint train that can compete with these sorts of guys.”

Matthews also confirmed his belief that it would be very challenging to take the Green Jersey from the shoulders of Peter Sagan.

“It’s hard to say because guys that are going for the green jersey have whole teams that can support that goal, but with our team we have a lot of guys that are going for stages. So it’ll be hard for me to go for that being one of three or four riders that are going for stage wins. You never know how it’s going to go in the Tour, but for now, it’s not at the top of the list.”