Mathew Hayman (born 20 April 1978) is an Australian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2019 for the Rabobank, Team Sky and Mitchelton–Scott teams. During his career, Hayman was an experienced and respected domestique, as he typically took on a supporting role within his team. Hayman was also a specialist in the cobbled classics, and was the winner of Paris–Roubaix in 2016. Following his retirement from racing after the 2019 Tour Down Under, Hayman remained with the Mitchelton–Scott team as a part-time directeur sportif alongside a "special projects" position.

Personal life

Hayman was born in western Sydney, but the family was living near Goulburn in country New South Wales when he became interested in cycling, largely due to his older brother. He started racing in Canberra, and, following his brother, moved to Europe to further a potential cycling career in 1997. He raced as an amateur with Rabobank's under-23 team, based in The Netherlands. In 2006 he married Kym Shirley, an Australian professional cyclist. The couple has a son, born in 2011, and twins born in 2017.

Career

Hayman turned professional in 2000 with Rabobank, after three years racing as an amateur in Europe. He completed his first Paris–Roubaix the same year. He stayed with Rabobank for ten years, achieving a number of good results during that time. Hayman has refused to discuss Dr Geert Leinders when asked about his time at Rabobank. Riding for Australia in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne as a domestique in support of Allan Davis, it was Hayman who came away with the gold medal in the road race.

At the end of 2009 Hayman left Rabobank for the challenge of helping to form a new professional cycling team, then known as Team Sky. Hayman left Team Sky at the end of the 2013 season, and joined Orica–GreenEDGE for the 2014 season.

On 10 April 2016, he won Paris–Roubaix, the eighth professional victory of his career and his 15th time participating in Paris-Roubaix. He was part of a breakaway of 16 riders that escaped from the peloton in the early stages of the race, which was later joined by a group which was formed after the peloton broke up following a crash 115 km from the finish. In the closing stages Hayman managed to close the gap on a select group of riders attacking from the lead group, and in the final sprint at Roubaix Velodrome, he beat Tom Boonen, Ian Stannard, Sep Vanmarcke and Edvald Boasson Hagen. His first reaction was one of disbelief: "I can’t believe it [...] This is my favorite race, it's a race I dream of every year. This year I didn’t even dare to dream."

On 18 September 2018 Hayman announced that he intended to retire after the 2019 Tour Down Under.

Major results

1996

2nd Time trial, UCI Road World Junior Championships

2nd Time trial, National Junior Road Championships

1999

1st Overall Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux

2nd Overall Olympia's Tour 1st Stage 3b (TTT)

3rd Omloop der Kempen

2000

5th Overall Sparkassen Giro Bochum

6th Overall Guldensporentweedaagse

2001

1st Overall Challenge Mallorca 1st Sprints classification 1st Stage 5

1st Trofeo Soller

6th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge

7th Milano–Torino

2002

6th Henk Vos Memorial

9th Overall Ster Elektrotoer

10th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge

2003

10th Gent–Wevelgem

2004

4th Tour de Rijke

10th Overall Sachsen Tour

10th Schaal Sels-Merksem

2005

1st Overall Sachsen Tour

8th Overall Three Days of De Panne

8th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge

8th Dwars door Vlaanderen

10th Trofeo Calvià

2006

1st Road race, Commonwealth Games

2nd Profronde van Fryslan

3rd Overall Oddset-Rundfahrt

2007

4th Dwars door Vlaanderen

5th Tour de Rijke

7th Profronde van Fryslan

9th Overall Tour of Qatar

2008

10th Ronde van het Groene Hart

2009

4th Gent–Wevelgem

7th Trofeo Inca

8th Dwars door Vlaanderen

8th Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen

10th Tour de Rijke

2010

5th Dwars door Vlaanderen

2011

1st Paris–Bourges

3rd Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

4th Dwars door Vlaanderen

6th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge

10th Paris–Roubaix

2012

8th Paris–Roubaix

2013

3rd Dwars door Vlaanderen

2016

1st Paris–Roubaix

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour20022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018
Giro d'Italia91136DNF105
Tour de FranceDNF135151108
Vuelta a España137DNF130

Classics results timeline

Monument2000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018
Milan–San Remo1541218693129DNFDNF62137
Tour of Flanders708247906860132179DNF51399183
Paris–Roubaix6549HD267823113212410852517611122
Liège–Bastogne–Liège141
Giro di LombardiaDid not contest during his career
Classic2000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018
Omloop Het NieuwsbladDNF22DNF3222156027100324DNF50DNF
Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne6345272520932646926633
Dwars door Vlaanderen26366084468545527100
E3 Harelbeke3622DNFDNF28DNF743747
Gent–Wevelgem4050411025804271256836189897
Scheldeprijs17921533138107
Amstel Gold Race829610890DNFDNF84124
La Flèche Wallonne144
Paris–Tours58824036148911912131
Milano–Torino712599
Legend
Did not compete
HDHors delai (out of time limit)
DNFDid not finish

External links

  • at Cycling Archives ()
  • at ProCyclingStats