The Amstel Gold Race is close to Matthews' heart and one he would dearly love to win, because that's where the Canberra cycling star found the love of his life.

And after a massive year in which he got married, made his Tour de France debut and finished on the podium at the world championships, Matthews is focused on turning his 2015 podiums into wins.

Unfortunately, those wins won't be at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro or the world championships in Qatar because neither course suits the 25-year-old - the former is too hilly, while the latter is too flat.

Matthews returned to training at his home base in Monaco last week after taking time out for his honeymoon in the Maldives.

The man called "Bling" clearly doesn't do things by halves, which is why despite having his best year yet, the Orica-GreenEDGE rider wants to make 2016 even better.

Along with his silver medal at the worlds, Matthews finished third at the Amstel Gold and Milan-San Remo - two of the biggest races of the year.

He also finished on the podium in the Brabantse Pijl and the Quebec Grand Prix, as well as winning stages at the Giro d'Italia, the Paris-Nice, the Tour of the Basque Country, the Swiss Tour and the Tour of Alberta.

Matthews was also awarded the most aggressive rider for stage five at the Tour de France after he courageously finished the stage despite breaking his ribs in a horrific crash.

His focus is on turning those podiums at the Amstel Gold and Milan-San Remo into wins.

Especially in the former as it's where he met his wife Katrina.

"This year was to try and get the experience and learn how to race the races and next year obviously to try and turn those podiums into wins," Matthews said.

"I think have the ability to do it and the people around me are pushing me even harder for next year to step up even more.

"The Amstel Gold stands out for me, because it has more of a meaning than just a race. That's where me and my wife met so it has a bit more of a special meaning.

"It was out first official date, I guess you could call it."

Matthews doesn't have far to look for motivation either. He occasionally trains with friend Peter Sagan, who also lives in Monaco.

Sagan had a massive 2015, which included beating Matthews for the world champs jersey.

As well as claiming his fourth straight green jersey at this year's Tour de France, Sagan also claimed his Slovakian road race and time-trial titles and won the Tour of California.

Given they're similar types of riders, they naturally become rivals on the bike.

"He's always someone that I'm going head-to-head with it seems in every race that I do," Matthews said.

"I think he'll be one of the main contenders that will try and stop me from achieving my goals next year.

"It's always fun to race a guy like that with the wins he's had and it's nice to be alongside each other and trying to beat him every race."

Matthews will again stay in Europe over winter and repeat what worked for him this year.

He's yet to sit down with the team and work out his program for 2016, but he said a preliminary look at the Tour de France route didn't look promising.

Matthews' debut Tour was decimated after he was involved in a horrific crash in stage three, which left Matthews with broken ribs and plenty of gravel rash.

"The Tour is obviously the biggest race of the year, but I've looked at the profile and there's not too many stages that suit me very well," he said.

"If I get the spot to go ahead I'll prepare myself 110 per cent to try and pull off results in the Tour de France.

"But from my experience this year, it was pretty horrible so hopefully I can try and turn it around for some better luck next year.

"I've only seen the profile of the stages, maybe they are a little bit different in real [life] ... once you've seen them properly you can decide what you want to do."