Goss focussed on bigger picture ahead of Bay Classic defence
Predicts "wide open" criterium series in Geelong
Defending 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Jayco Bay Cycling Classic champion 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Matt Goss (GreenEdge) is playing down his chances of a repeat victory in the four-race series, which begins this Sunday January 1 at Geelong's 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Eastern Beach.
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Last January, Goss sealed the title by claiming his second race win on the final race which resulted in a two-point victory over compatriot Michael Matthews (Urban). It was the start of a hot run of form which saw the Tasmanian finish 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:second at the national road titles to Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Cervelo), before winning the Santos Tour Down Under prelude, the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Cancer Council Classic. A stage win later that week and second overall in the Australian WorldTour race preceded another stage win, this time at the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour of Oman. At Paris-Nice in early March, Goss outsprinted Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo) and Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha) to claim stage 3. Later that month, Goss bettered Fabian Cancellara (Leopard-Trek) and Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) to become the first Australian to win 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Milan-San Remo. A better three months of form in t𓆏hat part of the season would bꦬe hard to find.
Goss told Cyclingnews that it was a succ♏ession of events that was only possible due to the fact t🅰hat he'd had minimal time off the bike during the off-season, having wrapped up 2010 at the Vuelta a Espana.
"This year took a lot out of me – i🐻t was all down to timing and it required a lot of hard work in training,꧟" he explained. "I've had to take a bigger break and I'm probably not going to be in quite the same form at Bay Crits, but I shouldn't be too far off."
By the time Goss lined up for the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:UCI Road ൲World Championships in Denma🐼rk in September where he finished a heart-breaking, close second to Mark Cavendish , it was the fourth time he was coming into peak form having previously launched assaults on the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour of California in May and then for his 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de France debut in July.
"It was ⛎a long year mentally as well as physically," he adm🧜its.
While obviously acuಌtely aware of his own form heading into the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic, Goss said that trying to predict a winner was like stepping into the great unknown – all because of the question marks that an off-season brings.
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"There's a🔜lways the usual culprits like CJ [Sutton – Urban Hotels] who are going ok but you don't really kno🧸w because there could be one guy who's put in a lot of effort over the summer and comes out flying," he suggested. "By the same token there could be someone who you think's going to win who hasn't had the best off-season or pre-season so they might not be up to scratch. It really is a wide open race."
Goss' teammate at the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic, Robbie McEwen who i🌠s a six-time winner of the series, confirmed that the four days of racing will be a time for fine-tuning combinations ahead of an all-important first season.
"I think the main thing for myself and my new teammates as of January 1, we'll be riding together and just getting acquainted with each other's riding style," McEwen told Cyclingnews.
"That's a super-importa🐈nt time there, July and August, it's my two biggest goals and they're only about a week apart. So it's a very precise time for me, I have got to be in form," he warns. "I can't be in form at the Down Under and then the Giro, the Tour, then Olympics."
As a sports journalist and producer since 1997, Jane has cover﷽ed Olympic and Commonwealth Games, rugby league, motorsport, cricket, surfing, triathlon, rugby union, and golf for print, radio, television and online. However her enduring passion has been cycling.
Jane is a former Australian Editor of Cyclingnews from 𝓰2011 to 2013 and continues to freela𒉰nce within the cycling industry.