BikeExchange's Michael Matthews gutted by Tokyo Olympics snub

Especially since he felt he met AusCycling's selection criteria for the men's road race, which will be held on Saturday, questioning why there were criteria if they weren't used.

Matthews still had an outside chance of winning his second Tour de France green jersey, although he only had the final stage overnight to try to catch Mark Cavendish.

Being part of Australia's Olympic team had been one of Matthews' goals at the start of the year and he modified his training accordingly.

He felt he'd shown his climbing credentials during the Tour de Suisse in June, where he finished 32^nd overall.

But the selectors have opted to go for Richie Porte and Matthews' BikeExchange teammates Lucas Hamilton and Luke Durbridge for a tough course that could suit climbers like Porte.

AusCycling's criteria listed podium finishes at the Olympics and world championships from 2016 onwards - something Matthews has done repeatedly.

The 30-year-old finished second at the 2016 worlds, third in 2017 and has multiple podiums in the team time trial as well.

Matthews has also performed well in other races that were listed in the selection criteria - winning the Quebec Grand Prix twice, the Montreal Grand Prix (albeit in 2018, the criteria specified the following year) and finished fourth in this year's Amstel Gold Race (where he finished third in 2015) and fourth at Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2017.

His WorldTour ranking (currently 20) would also have contributed to the number of riders Australia were allowed to take to Tokyo.

Matthews hoped Porte could bring home a medal for Australia.

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"With the criteria of the Olympics I really met the selection criteria and I'm not going so it's definitely a bit heartbreaking," he told The Canberra Times.

"That was one of my focuses of this year was to climb really well leading into this Tour de France and leading through to the Olympics.

"In Suisse I showed that was the training that I was doing. Getting the call up just before Suisse to say I wasn't riding was definitely difficult to swallow that's for sure.

"When you make a criteria for a selection for a road roace and you don't stick to it once you've made that criteria I don't really agree with.

"In the end with Richie ... I can just wish him all the best. That's all I can do in the end. I'm obviously devastated, but they make the selection."

Matthews was hopeful he could return to Canberra with his family at the end of the year to visit family and friends.

But he was obviously unsure whether he'd be allowed to due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He hoped some of the quarantine requirements might have eased by then - given he's fully vaccinated.

"I'm trying to come back at the end of this year, which will be nice, but I don't know whether that will happen either," Matthews said.

"Hopefully the corona is under control by then let's say, and I can come back to Australia - especially to Canberra - and spend some time there, but at the moment it's still not really possible.

"We're all vaccinated so I don't understand why you'd need to do two weeks' quarantine if you're vaccinated and get tests when you arrive. But in the end that's the rule.

"Hopefully at that time they've changed the quarantine rules where you can do five days and get a test and everything if you're vaccinated.

"We'll have to wait and see what the Australian government says and see what Europe says about travelling to Australia and back."