Matthews' teammates worked tirelessly from the start of the hard, hot day from Antequera to pace on the front of the peloton and close down several breakaway attempts to maintain his chances of competing at the finish in Valdepeñas de Jaén as only Magnus Cort Neilsen (EF Education Nippo) was successful in maintaining a gap on the chase.
The team continued to support Matthews on the harsh 8.8 kilometre Puerto de Locubin as he hot conditions began to take their toll, but he was still firmly inside the group chasing Cort as they crested the climb and began the fast descent to the finale.
As the peloton approached the final kilometre and the harsh uphill climb to the finish, Matthews went to the front and launched his attack, but it was evident the 30-year-old didn't have the legs to keep up the pace and was quickly overtaken, eventually finishing 23rd on the stage and 34 seconds behind winner Primoz Roglič (Jumbo-Visma).
"The second last climb, the category 2 (Puerto de Locubin) really put me in the hurt box," an exhausted Matthews said after the stage. "Everyone was just fighting for position on the downhill towards the final kick to the line and I tried my best."
"The final kick to the line was really nice, but I just had no legs left after the category 2.
"For me to contest this finish, it had to be a pretty easy stage."
Unable to beat the likes of two-time stage winning sprinters Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) and Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) in the flat courses and clearly fatigued on the climbs in hot conditions, Keenan believes it may be time for Matthews and BikeExchange to change tack if they want to win at this year's Vuelta.
"Despite the huge effort from the BikeExchange team, it was disappointing to see Michael Matthews outside the top 20," Keenan lamented in his Stage 11 wrap.
"They threw everything at it. Maybe they need to find a different strategy to win a stage and start looking for the breakaways. Perhaps Stage 12."
Elsewhere in the race, Keenan was impressed by the fireworks from the top 10 as they battled for the win on the insanely hard climb to the finish, but highlighted Cort Neilsen as the brightest spark of the day as he very nearly pulled off a second win from the breakaway.
"Who delivered? Pretty much everybody inside the top 10 on the stage and top 10 overall!" he said.
"Another great win for Primoz Roglič, Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) holding on to the red jersey, but the big delivery - Magnus Cort Neilsen. No, he didn't win the stage, but almost!
"He defied them for longer than I expected and perhaps anybody else - the great Dane was sensational."
The Vuelta a Espana continues tonight with a mostly flat start to the 175 kilometre Stage 12 from Jaén before two categorised climbs await the riders before the finish in Córdoba. Watch the action live from 11pm AEST on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand and 10:50pm on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker.
