Given his history with the race, Team BikeExchange will go "all in" to get the Canberra cyclist the win.

Matthews finished second behind Philippe Gilbert and Ben Hermans in 2014 and 2015 respectively, while he also finished fourth two years ago.

The 30-year-old has started 2021 with a fifth at Gent-Wevelgem and sixth at Milan-San Remo.

Fellow Canberran and BikeExchange sport director Mathew Hayman said Matthews just needed a few things to go his way to get his first win of the year.

"It is a race Matthews really likes and one he really enjoys racing and his results show that, so of course we will go all in with him - but there's stiff competition out there," Hayman said.

"We will be backing him fully, as we have been in the Classics and we want to set things straight after a disappointing Flanders [where he finished 21st].

"His form is really good, he worked really hard over the winter and I think he wanted to come in and perform early on in a new team and we have been there or there abouts all through Paris-Nice, Milan San-Remo and Gent-Wevelgem.

"He has been close, and we just need a few things to go our way.

"As we know these races are always close and anything can happen, and we just have to keep knocking on the door."

Matthews felt the course suited him and was confident he had a strong team to support him.

"I feel like I had good legs during the cobble Classics and I'm even more motivated now to try and get a good result during these next Ardennes races," he said.

"I have been second twice before in this race, it is a race that I like, it is always hard and aggressive, and I think with the repetitive climbs it suits me quite well.

"We have a really strong team so I hope we can have a good race, some good luck and finish on the podium once again, on the top step is what we really want."