California, then Tour de France for Goss
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Contract negotiations not just about money for Milan-San Remo champ
Matt Goss claimed his maiden grand tour stage win when he took out stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia last year so you wouldn’t have blamed him if he was disappointed not to be joining the HTC-Highroad team in Milan next week. The 24-year-old however says that it’s all part of the plan.
Goss, who capped a magnificent start to 2011 with victory at Milan-San Remo in March, will instead take on the Tour of California for the first time in his career where he plans to add to his winning ways.
“I’d really prefer to go to the Tour and if everything goes well, that’s where I should be going,” he told Cyclingnews before heading out to train around his Monaco base. “Then also with the Vuelta – that will be really nice preparation for the Worlds I think that’s a really nice way to finish the season. To do the Giro, I’d have to do all three grand tours if everything went right and I think that’s a bit much – especially after having a full-on classics program.”
On the day of our interview, Goss has only been back on the bike for a week but is confident that he can come up with the goods on the loops around Lake Tahoe which form the Tour of California’s 191km opening stage.
“The first stage really suits me,” he said. “There’s a little climb not far from the finish… There’s also a few sprint stages after that but my main focus is going to be on those first few days to try and get something there and then I can try and use the last part of the race for race fitness.”
Down but not out following Milan-San Remo
Goss became the second Australian after Stuart O’Grady to claim one of cycling’s monuments with his win over Fabian Cancellara at La Primavera.
“It’s certainly changed my outlook,” he said of the win. “I go into these races now not hoping that one day it’s a race that I’ll win, but with aspirations to do well in all of them. I expect results because I know now that it can happen.”
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