HTC-Highroad’s Matt Goss stormed to his seventh win of the season in stage three of the Paris-Nice stage race in France on Tuesday- a victory which has also netted the Australian rider the overall lead.
After dodging past a late crash, Goss managed to out-sprint fellow Australian, Heinrich Haussler at the end of stage three’s hilly 202 kilometer run from Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire to Nuits-Saint-George. The HTC-Highroad rider said it had been a tough final sprint, which saw him dart from one side of the road to the other to avoid the fallen riders and then go for the win.
“It was certainly difficult, I was a little bit too far back in the last corner and was lucky to get round the crash, but once I got past them I had a straight run and it went well.”
“I was very motivated for today’s stage, I knew if I could get over the final five-kilometer climb I’d be in with a good shot, the finish was perfect for me.”
“We just missed out on the first sprint on stage one, the second one I was a little bit boxed in, but today it worked out fine.”
“Tomorrow’s a tough stage to defend the lead, but it’s not impossible. There are two climbs about 50 kilometers from the finish, so hopefully I can get over them ok and at least hold it for another day.”
“It was a very scrappy finish, but they seem to suit Matt, he surfs the other teams lead-outs and then goes for it himself,” added HTC-Highroad’s sports director Allan Peiper, “He just missed out yesterday [Monday], but today he really put the score straight.”
As for the overall lead, Peiper says they will take the next stage “segment by segment to see if we can defend it.”
“There’s an early climb, so breakaways are bound to go, and we’ve got two GC guys as well, so it’s a question of playing our cards tactically.”
Goss has now won seven races this season, including a stage of the Tour Down Under and a stage of the Tour of Oman.
“It’s been a perfect start to the year,” Goss concludes, “I can only hope it keeps going for as long as possible.”
After Goss’s latest win, HTC-Highroad men’s team have now taken 15 victory in 2011.
HTC-Highroad for Paris-Nice: Lars Bak (Den); Matt Goss (Aus); Tony Martin (Ger); Danny Pate (USA); Alex Rasmussen (Den); Kanstantsin Svitsov (Byl); Tejay Van Garderen (USA); Martin Velits (Svk).
