Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb൲) was an early victim at Paris-Nice, crashing out on stage 1 to Saint-Germain-en-Laye on Sunday. The Australian came into the French race looking to improve his form ahead of Milan-San Remo but w😼as left on the deck on the first stage.

Matthews mad꧂e his season debut in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and, despite a fall in the Belgian one-day race, was able finish 12th.

Team Sunweb confirmed the news of Matthews' fall and subseque🐻nt departure from the race on Twitter. H🎀e hit the deck with just under 80km of the 138.5km stage remaining, at a period of high tension as strong crosswinds hit the peloton.

The race had already split i🔥nt༺o echelons and come back together, but the pace was building again when Matthews crashed, though it's not clear exactly what caused it. 

Matthews quickly abandoned the r🍨ace, though it is not clear at this point how severe his injuries are.&👍nbsp;

"Michael and Mar🌼tijn [Tusveld, who also crashed -ed] are receiving further medical checks to assess their injuries and more information will follow," read a statement from Team Sunweb. 

Matthews had a winning record in Paris-Nice, winning three stages between 2015 and 2016. His start to the 2018 campaign was derailed by a shoulder injury in his fi💫rst race at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and he only turned things aroun𓃲d towards the end of the season by winning the GP de Montréal and GP de Québec.