Goss crafts a monumental classic
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday March 21, 2011
TASMANIAN Matthew Goss has transformed himself from being a potential threat in the coming European spring classics into the No.1 target of many leading rivals after becoming the first Australian to win the marathon Milan-San Remo race in Italy at the weekend.By winning the 298-kilometre event, Goss (HTC-Highroad) also became only the second Australian to claim one of cycling's five "monuments", joining the evergreen South Australian Stuart O'Grady (Leopard), who won the 2007 Paris-Roubaix classic in France."To be the first Australian to win is incredible," Goss said after Saturday's triumph. "There have been so many Australians who have finished second and third time after time."Goss now faces a huge challenge. As well as the pressure of favouritism and the extra attention, he will attract from rivals as he looks ahead to racing in Belgium and northern France, he must also try to retain the scintillating form that has now produced eight wins this season.On his side are three important factors. There is the impact that winning a race as big as Milan-San Remo will have on his self-confidence; the fact that his American team is now certain to throw its all into riding for him; and the added authority he will command in the peloton.After outsprinting Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara (Leopard), Belgian Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and five others in the group that formed on the descent of the Poggio climb with two kilometres to go, Goss revealed he was reappraising his ambitions.He initially told the Herald last week that Sunday's 219 kilometre Ghent-Wevelgem classic was a race he felt he could win after coming third in 2009, and that the next two "monuments" - the 262km Tour of Flanders (April 3) and Paris-Roubaix (April 10) - were events that might one day be within his grasp as he developed.But there was a more confident tone in his comments after the Milan-San Remo race: "After winning a race like this, of course I'm going to look at races differently, and believe I can win a lot more and a lot bigger."It's going to give me more confidence for the coming races. I don't think you get that confidence until you win something like this. I'd like to do well in Ghent-Wevelgem ... a race I think I can win, and Flanders and Roubaix are races I dream of winning, maybe not this year. I don't know. I didn't expect to win this race. Perhaps I can get another result, but I'm not going to say they're races I can win this year. They're races I'd love to win in my career."Many favourites missed the big split in the race. A crash by Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) on the descent of the Le Manie climb with 90km to go caught several riders, including Robbie McEwen (RadioShack) and Goss's teammates, including Mark Cavendish.The crash allowed a group of 44 riders to escape - including O'Grady and Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo). But as calm as Goss looked in the charge to the finish, he said it was hardly a stress-free ride. "Maybe it looked like I was cool but I was stressing about everything," he said. "There was a lot of guys in the bunch, and I didn't have anyone there, so I was just trying to save everything for the Poggio. The Poggio was where it was all going to come down to, where Gilbert finally attacked. I got across just on the top of the Poggio. So I knew I had a good chance for the win."Australian road winners in 2011MEN(24wins) Matt Goss (HTC-Columbia) ‚€œ eight wins: Milan-SanRemo, Paris-Nice (one stage), Tour of Oman (one stage), Tour Down Under (one stage), Down Under Classic, Jayco Bay Series (two stages, overall) Michael Matthews (Rabobank) ‚€œ three wins: Tour of Murcia (one stage), Tour Down Under (one stage), Jayco Bay series (one stage) Nathan Earle (Genesys) ‚€œ three wins: Tour ofWellington (three stages) Cadel Evans (BMC) ‚€œ two wins: Tirreno-Adriatico (one stage, overall) Mark Renshaw(HTC-Highroad) ‚€œ two wins: Tour of Qatar (one stage, overall) CameronMeyer (Garmin-Cervelo) ‚€œ two wins:TourDownUnder (one stage, overall) Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo) ‚€œ two wins: Tour ofQatar (two stages) Chris Sutton (Sky) ‚€œ one win:Kuurne-Brussells-Kuurne Bernie Sulzberger (FlyVAustralia) ‚€œ one win: Jayco Bay Series (one stage)WOMEN(6wins) Rochelle Gilmore (Honda-Lotto) ‚€œ four wins: Tour ofQatar (one stage), Jayco Bay Series (two stages, overall) Tiffany Cromwell (Honda-Lotto) ‚€œ one win: Jayco Bay Series (one stage) Amanda Spratt (Jayco-AIS) ‚€œ one win: Tour of NewZealand (one stage)
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