Liggett said he likes the look of the Australian team heading into the UCI Road World Championships in Virginia.

"They've had a great season in some ways and a tough season in others with all their crashes to people like Simon Gerrans. But the Aussies are sending a full team and I think they've got a real chance," he said.

Gerrans was forced to abandon this year's Tour de France alongside five other riders after a horror crash in the third stage. He suffered a broken wrist in the crash that took down 20 riders and also injured his Orica-GreenEDGE teammate Matthews, who rode on with bruised ribs and eventually finished the three-week race.

It was the debut Tour de France for 24-year-old Matthews, after injury forced him to pull out in 2014, and Liggett thinks he's a man to watch.

"He's the sort of guy that he knows where he wants to go. But we're just looking for indications now that he can ride a three-week tour and go the distance and stay out of trouble," said Liggett.

"On the small mountain stages he's already proved he can do that. But when you go three weeks, it's how you handle that final week of a grand tour and they're usually high mountain days in that last week and we still need [an] indication he can go the distance there."

Matthews, who has proven himself as a strong sprinter has also expressed an interest in working towards being a stage winner.

"He's a bit more than just a sprinter, that's for sure – he reminds me a bit more of the riding style of Pete Sagan who can climb as well when he needs to.

"I'm not sure he can win a Tour de France yet because he hasn't shown any of the full-on discipline abilities in the time trial and the high mountains but he certainly could be a stage race winner for races like Tour of Switzerland or some smaller tours.

"I think he's got the mental qualities to be a real top bike rider …I'm not sure if his ambition even is to win a three-week tour or if he believes he can, but so far so good and he's still only young."

Fellow Canberra cyclist Michael Rogers wasn't announced as part of the nine-man road race squad, and while Liggett says Rogers' days of winning a tour are most likely behind him, he's still a valuable asset on the course.

"Mick's been a stalwart - the guy's an absolute solid bike rider," said Liggett.

"There's no possibility of him winning a grand tour, I don't think, but as an experienced solid bike rider who can actually stay with the best in the mountains – if he's got a strong man to lead on his team then he's gonna be a super guy to have alongside in the mountains."

The Australian road race team will ride at the World Championships on September 27, with a 259-kilometre inner-city circuit through Richmond, Virginia.

"The course is challenging – in theory it should be a sprinter's race but I think it'll also be a war of attrition. The sprinter will need to be a strong man – someone like Michael Matthews could go the distance," he said.

"It's also a course which could suit a strong opportunist like Gerrans if he can go the distance after all the knocking around he's had this year. But Matthews would be my man and he could be the world champion."

Of the named Australian men's team, about one-third of the riders are from Canberra, including Matthew Hayman and Rory Sutherland, which Liggett puts down to the capital's cycle-friendly nature.

"It's more like a modern European city, if you like. Canberra, because it's clean, plenty of good wide roads, it's much easier to operate unlike Sydney which is an absolute nightmare if you're a cyclist," he said.

"But Canberra's got the countryside on its doorstep, and it's got the climbs…I remember riding up Black Mountain with the old East Germans, it was almost the last year of East Germany, and they were over to participate in the Commonwealth Bank Cycling Classic, and it was a nice climb."

"I didn't stay with them by the way."

Phil Liggett will be back in Canberra for The Tour on Stage on November 24 with special guests Jens Voight and Simon Gerrans. Tickets available from ticketek.com.au.