Matt De Neef

Melbourne

Managing Editor at The Escape Collective

Writing: @escapecycling | Author: 'Everesting' | Podcasting: @TheAlbumFiles | Blogging: https://t.co/xi71QzbJNu | Email: [email protected]

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Articles

Why are so many pro cyclists getting iliac artery surgery?

1 week ago | escapecollective.com | Matt De Neef

The 2024 season was a big one for Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal). For years her vast potential had been thwarted by illness and injury, but in 2024 the Australian climber finally started to show the cycling world what she was truly capable of. A win at the Tour Down Under was an emphatic start. Then came fifth on a stage of the Vuelta Femenina and seventh overall at the biggest race of the year: the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, including eighth on the race-defining Alpe d'Huez stage.
Despite 'constant negativity and criticism', the first ProVelo Super League brought many wins

2 weeks ago | escapecollective.com | Matt De Neef

2025 has been a year of change for Australia's domestic road cycling. With the long-running (and ailing) National Road Series (NRS) now shuttered 2025 ushered in the first edition of the ProVelo Super League (PSL), a new six-race series backed by Australian cycling's most important benefactor, Gerry Ryan. The inaugural series delivered some intriguing racing right until the end, with professional contracts on offer to the best male and female U23 riders.
Luke Plapp on his Giro stage win, Worlds in Africa, and future goals

3 weeks ago | escapecollective.com | Matt De Neef

The 2025 season is proving to be something of a breakout for Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla). The 24-year-old is a proven performer at home in Australia, with six national titles already - three on the road, three in the ITT - but before this year, he hadn't won a race in Europe. In early April though, in his first race back after wrist surgery, Plapp won a stage of the UCI 2.1 Tour of Hellas (the Tour of Greece).
Aussie champ Lucie Stewart sidelined with pelvis fractures

3 weeks ago | escapecollective.com | Matt De Neef

Australian road race champion Lucinda Stewart (Liv AlUla Jayco Continental) is facing a lengthy stint on the sidelines after fracturing her pelvis in a crash last week. The 20-year-old, who took a surprise win at Aussie Road Nationals in Perth earlier this year, revealed on Instagram on Sunday that a fall last Tuesday left her unable to walk. She flew home from Girona to Melbourne where scans revealed three pelvis fractures.
The mind-blowing stage that decided the Giro d'Italia

3 weeks ago | escapecollective.com | Matt De Neef

What a Giro d'Italia we've just witnessed. A long stint for Isaac del Toro in the maglia rosa. A GC battle poised until the very last weekend. And an epic conclusion to that GC battle on the mighty Colle delle Finestre, in all its gravel-strewn glory. Of course, you can read all about the Giro here at Escape.
When the clouds finally part

1 month ago | escapecollective.com | Matt De Neef

The weather has changed since I last rode. Gone are those autumn mornings that shock the system with their surprising cold. Those days are the standard now. Winter is on its way. Flying down to I wish I'd spent the extra few minutes to find the gloves I knew I'd need. That I'd even tried to look for the leg warmers I thought I might need. The cold air bites wherever it can find exposed skin. It burrows deep into my lungs, making the early kilometres a challenge.
A beautiful weekend of racing, a Giro wonderfully poised

1 month ago | escapecollective.com | Matt De Neef

If you had any concerns that this year's Giro d'Italia wouldn't be an entertaining affair, those fears have presumably been stamped out by now. It's the second rest day now, with 15 stages completed, and as the cliche goes, it's all still to play for.
Let's check in on cycling's favourite one-hit wonder

1 month ago | escapecollective.com | Matt De Neef

Every so often, a rider comes along that captures the imagination. They needn't be a big name of the sport, a prolific winner, or even a particularly entertaining or flamboyant rider. Sometimes all it takes is one exemplary day on the bike - one flash in the pan, never to be repeated - for a cult figure to be born. That's what happened nine years ago, on May 22, 2016, at the 99th edition of the Giro d'Italia. This post is for paying subscribers onlySubscribe nowAlready have an account?
Seven takeaways from a wonderful women's Liège-Bastogne-Liège

2 months ago | escapecollective.com | Matt De Neef
The Herald Sun Tour is coming back for the first time since 2020

2 months ago | escapecollective.com | Matt De Neef

After an absence spanning a full six years, the Jayco Herald Sun Tour is set to return in 2026. Australia's oldest stage race didn't run in 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and didn't return in 2023 due to "ongoing logistical, planning, timing, and workforce challenges". While there were plans for the race to happen in 2024 and again in 2025, those never eventuated and many suspected the race was gone for good.