World Tour team Groupama-FDJ rider Matt Walls hasn’t had the best of luck for the last few seasons; he’s had more than his fair share of crashes, cutting-up hands, skinning arms and legs, breaking his hip in a training crash, and suffering serious concussion after his terrible tumble into the velodrome stand at the Commonwealth Games.
Despite all this misfortune the courageous 26-year old Englishman is carving out a good career on the road, undaunted, and recently showed a welcome return to form with a solid ninth place at the brutal British Road Race Championships at Saltburn, preceded by a superb bit of team riding in Darlington in the National Circuit Championships where team mate Lewis Askey won solo and Walls secured second place in the bunch gallop.
Walls has formally enjoyed a particularly impressive career on the track, winning National Team Pursuit, Omnium and Madison championships, as well as European Elimination, Madison and Omnium titles, culminating in his Olympic Omnium title, all whilst maturing through the British Cycling system.
During our recent interview with Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Fred mentioned that we should speak to Matt Walls next; as a reigning Olympic Champion he was ‘due a good chat’, and so we duly obliged.
How did you get into cycling Matt? You did a bit of MTB as a youngster with your dad?
Yes, that’s right, I got into it by doing mountain bike with my dad when I was younger, all around Saddleworth.
“I think I was about eight or nine when I first went on the velodrome and I enjoyed it enough to join the local team and it kind of went from there.”
And you competed in triathlon too at that time? How was your swimming back then?
“I did some triathlons when I was school, basically towards the end of primary school and the beginning of secondary school.
“My swimming was actually all right because at that time I was doing quite a lot of sports, and I was swimming quite a bit as well.
“I was also running, cycling, playing football and rugby; I was doing quite a lot of things at that time!”
In 2016 you were a Junior, racing with Velocity Globalbike in decent events, then moving to our pal Flavio Zappi’s team? Zappi would get you into some good races?
“I rode for Velocity when I was a junior, it was a good team and we had some great sponsors, it was good fun.
“To be honest, I don’t particularly remember much about it, it was a while ago, now!
“I didn’t ride much for Zappi’s team; I think I did maybe one race with them [as a guest] but I never actually raced for that team.”
You also got some Team GB selections that year…
“I was doing both the track and road racing although at that point (through the Junior category) I was probably doing better on the track than I was on the road.”
2017,18 and 19, racing with Team GB in some big races, gaining good experience?
“Yes, for sure, and I could feel myself going more towards the track endurance races and certainly being more of a sprinter on the road.”
In 2019 you were offered a stagiaire place with EF. Did you think a contract would result or were you thinking it was just good exposure, an opportunity to experience top flight racing?
“Yes, I managed to get a stagiaire with EF and I was hoping for a contract after that, but it didn’t work out…”
You’re listed with the Trinity Racing in 2020 – what was the thinking behind signing with them – and did you actually get any racing done?
“It was into 2020 when Covid happened – I didn’t race with Trinity throughout that entire year!
“It was a good race program and that was the idea behind the move, but I didn’t even end up racing for them.”
That year you were selected for Team GB again, and you won double European Championships in the De’il (sorry, Elimination!) and the Omnium, and then a Bronze at the Worlds in the Omnium…
“When I got bronze in the Omnium at Worlds I could see myself being good at that event, I was getting some good results and going really well on the track at that point.”
You were picked up by Bora in 2021 and stayed with them for three seasons. You must have felt ‘this is the start of Big Things’? Can you share how that came about, was it through your agent, Andrew McQuad?
“Yeah, I joined Bora, signing for three years and it was thanks to Andrew that I was able to sort it all out.
“It was a really good way to start off my pro career.”
Did you start with Bora as a ‘protégé sprinter’?
“Yep, they signed me as a sprinter, that was the idea.
“But for the first year I was obviously focusing on Olympics… it was really good preparation, with all the racing and experience, everything kind of stepped up, so that put me in really good shape for the Games.”
Riding in Bora with Peter Sagan must have been special, what was that like, did you gel with him, learn lots?
“I never actually spent much time with Peter!
“I was with him at the training camps but I never did a race with him, which was a shame, but that was just how things worked out.”
Your Olympic Gold in the Omnium was a dominant performance. Do you see it as a career defining moment?
“Yeah, getting Gold in the Olympic Omnium was, well, it was crazy, to be honest!
“It’s something you picture as a kid when you’re growing up, racing on the track and watching all the guys in the previous Olympics winning so much.
“It’s a cliché but it really is ‘a dream come true’.”
And a Silver with Ethan Hayter in the Madison as well, made it a great Olympics for you.
“Silver in the Madison was really great.
“Obviously we were hoping for Gold, but we were still very happy with the Silver.
“So yeah, it turned out to be a really good Olympics even with all the things that that went on, being delayed a year and all the stuff that came with that.”
You achieved your first pro win at the Tour of Norway in 2021, that must have felt like a page turning to a new chapter?
“Yes, I won a stage in Norway after the Olympics…
“I think my form was so good after the Games and certainly my confidence was sky-high, everything was going my way and I was hoping it would be the start of many wins to come!”
And you were recognised in the Queen’s Honours List at the end of the year.
“Yes, I was awarded an MBE, which was really, really special.
“All my family came to the ceremony and we had a nice celebration afterwards, it was a really great day.”
You were sprinting well at the start of that year, in the mix at the Tour of Hungary with guys like Olav Kooij and Elia Viviani…
“That was such a hectic year; I started off crashing in Valencia at the start of the season and tore my AC joint, so I had some time out for that…
“Then, a few months later, once I got back going again, I crashed twice in Turkey and cut up my knuckles pretty badly.
“Once I recovered from that, I crashed at the Dauphiné and ripped up my leg and arm!
“I actually got quite a nasty infection from that crash, it was pretty badly swollen, so I had to take even more time out for that.”
Then *that* horror crash at the Commonwealth Games in August in the Scratch Race Qualifying…. you came away pretty lightly, considering.
“Yes, to finish off the year I had the crash at the Commonwealth Games, which was pretty crazy – something you don’t see very often!
“I was concussed for a good five or six weeks afterwards.
“That was a pretty bad ordeal but it could have been a lot worse, considering what actually happened.”
There was talk about changing the height of the barriers in velodromes to prevent a repeat of your (and poor Isaac Gálvez, RIP, in the Kuipke in 2006) accident.
“I did hear some things about people wanting higher barriers and different so on, but to be honest at that time I was just kind of in my own head, trying to deal with the concussion and just focusing on getting back riding again.
“I never really looked into what was actually happening but I’m not sure if anything has been done since then.”
It was all stage racing with Bora in 2023, 7th in early season Stage 1 in Oman must have set you up for a good season?
“Yeah, it did start off pretty well.
“The idea was to get some good stage races in and obviously go for the sprints.”
Then your rotten luck from 2022 resurfaced – this time a broken hip. You said at the time it was a ‘silly crash’…
“2023 turned out to be ‘not a good year’ as well; I actually crashed on a recovery ride and ended up breaking my hip.
“I had to get an operation the next day and was out of the game for a good four months.
“So yeah, it’s been a bad couple of years, that’s for sure!”
A lot of guys base themselves in Girona, whilst some prefer to commute from home. Where are you based these days?
“I’m actually living in Nice.
“I joined FDJ this year so I thought I’d move to Nice, it looked a nice place…
“There are quite a lot of guys around that area so I thought I’d give it a go and I really like living there – it is a nice place!”
As you say, you’re with Groupama-FDJ now and they’ve put you in a few stage races this season; Région Pays de la Loire Tour, 4 Jours de Dunkerque, Boucles de la Mayenne. What’s been your role?
“I didn’t have the greatest start to the season, to be honest.
“The form wasn’t really there and I’ve had a few crashes, some punctures and some mechanicals – a bit of bad luck.
“But recently, in the last couple of months, in these few stage races I’ve done I’ve been feeling better and better and I can feel the form coming along nicely.”
Are you getting the chance to ride for yourself or to target specific sprint days, or is it mostly team duties?
“I’ve mostly just been helping the team so far.
“After breaking my hip last year the idea was just to get back into it slowly, get some racing in the legs and help the team out for a few months, then hopefully get some chances to sprint for myself.
“We’ll see where we go from here.”
Your contract with FDJ is for two years, does that take a lot of pressure off, at least this year?
“I’ve got another year with FDJ so yeah, it definitely eases the pressure in terms of trying to find a contract – but I also want to win races, so I have my own pressure on myself.
“I want to get back to winning races again, to be honest… it’s been quite a while.”
The Olympics this summer, are you defending your Omnium title or riding other events?
“With the Olympics this year I’ve decided I’m not going to do the track.
“After the crashes over the last few years, plus I haven’t been on the track much, particularly since the crash at Commies…
“I just want to focus on the road for this contract and see if I can get back to winning races.
“I just want to see what I can do on the road.”
Lastly Matt, what’s your distraction from the bike, what do you do to ‘switch off’?
“Hmm, probably just a bit of Xbox, and a bit of Netflix, to be honest – oh, and scrolling Instagram too much!”
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And just the other day Matt showed his sprint form by securing second in the British National Circuit Race Championships, behind lone winner and team mate, Lewis Askey.
