Tirreno-Adriatico: Goss wins stage whilst Cavendish leads

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After another wet and windy stage in Italy, Australian winner of Milan-San Remo in 2011 Matt Goss triumphed to make it two major victories for his team on the same day as Albasini’s win in Paris-Nice

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Related Link: Cavendish leads after team time trial win

Race leader meanwhile, Britain’s Mark Cavendish was fifth not happy with his team’s leadout after having to scramble his way into contention in the final kilometre.

Video of final Ks (Italian voiceover)

After the second stage, Britain has two riders in the top 10, Cavendish leading and Alex Dowsett in 7th overall.

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With Milan – San Remo just down the road a little, two former winners in Cavendish and Goss found themsevles sprinting it out after a very long stage with Goss winning the encounter but Cavendish showing what might have been had he been ‘delivered’ better by his team over the final few kilometres. The finale as you can see from the video featured long straights as well as a tricky roundabout that could have been a disaster but the organisers took the finish time for the riders at 3k to go leaving it to the sprinters to battle it out for the stage prizes.

Even before the stage started, it was expected to be a sprint finish and so it proved to be but not before the early break and the Endura Scottish brand got plenty of time out front with Cesare Benedetti (NetApp-Endura) escaping with Kevin Hulsmans (Fantini Vini-Selle Italia) and Garikoitz Bravo (Euskaltel-Euskadi). The trio opened up a big gap on the peloton controlled by Omega Pharma Quickstep before being reeled in and the real racing commenced. Attacks came and went but it was the battle between the teams that was crucial.

The Lotto Belisol squad for Greipel have looked in fine form and were again as were Orica-GreenEdge but it was the Quickstep train that was unable to get their man to the front and his finishing position suffered because of it.

Check the video out to see how it unfolded.

Mark Cavendish said afterwards “We planned for a sprint today, we wanted a sprint today. We controlled it from the beginning — Martin Velits and Guillaume Van Keirsbulck controlled it. We got some help after the feed zone. It was quite chaotic in the final laps because it was raining, there were a lot of risks. All the general classification teams were trying to stay up there and it became very hectic.”

“I was 30 riders back in the last kilometre but I still fought and had a chance with 300 meters to go, even less than that. I came to the right but the peloton swung on the right at the same moment. I just had to slam my brakes with 200 meters to go and so that was the end of the chance of winning. I feel we could have got a lot more out of that race than we actually did today, but we will try again tomorrow.”

 Matt Goss “To come away with the win is great” Less than half an hour after Michael Albasini won the fourth stage of Paris-Nice, Matt Goss won a wet field sprint on stage two of Tirreno-Adriatico. It is the first win for the Australian since his stage victory at the Giro d’Italia last May and the ninth victory for ORICA-GreenEDGE of the 2013 season.

“This is the first road stage I’ve done in Europe this year,” said Goss. “To come away with the win is great. It’s huge for my motivation and confidence, and it’s hopefully great for the team as well. With the win also in Paris-Nice today, we’re all on a bit of a high at the moment. It’s a great day for ORICA-GreenEDGE.”

“Before the start of the stage, we all had a chat,” said Sport Director Neil Stephens. “I sat down with the team and told them that while Gossy is in good shape, we weren’t going to assume the role as a team with a top sprinter. We didn’t go great yesterday. We didn’t have the lead. Gossy hadn’t won a bike race yet this year. I wanted to downplay our chances to our competitors and the media. We didn’t put the pressure on, but of course, if we were in the hunt, we’d ride for Gossy.”

While the team may have done what they could to ease the pressure for Goss, he put plenty of pressure on himself to perform. “The pressure doesn’t generally come from the team or the media,” he said. “It comes from me. I thought today was a good opportunity but tomorrow was probably a better one. Still, when you have a team helping you, there will always be pressure at the finish to repay their work.”

Although the team was ready to commit to Goss at the finish, they left the chase work to the other teams eager for the sprint. “Stuey [Stuart O’Grady] took control of our boys,” noted Stephens. “He kept them near the front and out of danger.”

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“As the pace ramped up again towards the finish, the main nucleus of the lead out got together,” said Stephens. “It might have looked a bit chaotic. Because of the rain, it was pretty split up there. Usually things bunch up in the build up towards the sprint, and that didn’t really happen today. No team was 100% organized. [Daryl] Impey wasn’t on a good day, so unfortunately he wasn’t there, but Brett Lancaster put Mitch Docker into a really good position. Docker set up Gossy, and Gossy kept it up for the win.”

Goss credits his teammates with following the pre-race plan to perfectly position him for the win. “We had specific markers,” explained Goss. “We wanted to come to the front at 1.8 kilometres before we went over an overpass. After the overpass, there was a right hand turn. It was the last corner at one kilometre to go. We knew if we weren’t in the top ten around that corner, we’d have no chance to win the race.”

ORICA-GreenEDGE had four riders in the top ten around the final corner. “From there, it didn’t matter how fast you were or how many teammates you had to help,” explained Goss. “Everyone is sprinting at the point, and it is vital to be at the front. We were there, and it set me up for the win. Big thanks to the team, especially to Lancaster and Docker, for helping me out today. It was a complete team effort.”

Goss sees his stage win as only the beginning. “We have a strong team here,” he said. “It’s not a team only suited to the sprints. We have guys that can go well in the time trial on the last day and guys that are targeting other stages later in the race. We got the win out of the way nice and early, and hopefully it sets the tone for the rest of the week.”

STAGE 2
1. Matt GOSS Orica GreenEDGE
2. Manuel BELLETTI AG2R La Mondiale
3. Gerald CIOLEK Team MTN Qhubeka
4. Roberto FERRARI Lampre – Merida
5. Mark CAVENDISH Omega Pharma – Quick-Step
6. Arnaud DEMARE Equipe Cycliste FDJ
7. Andre GREIPEL Lotto Belisol Team
8. Kristian SBARAGLI Team MTN Qhubeka
9. Peter SAGAN Cannondale Pro Cycling Team
10. Davide APPOLLONIO AG2R La Mondiale

13 Tyler Farrar, Garmin-Sharp
14 John Degenkolb, Team Argos-Shimano
17 Taylor Phinney, BMC Racing Team
19 Greg Henderson, Lotto Belisol
20 Francesco Chicchi, Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
38 Lars Boom, Blanco Pro Cycling Team
44 Danilo Hondo, RadioShack Leopard
46 Zak Dempster, Team NetApp-Endura
47 Thor Hushovd, BMC Racing Team
48 Giovanni Visconti, Movistar Team
53 Alberto Contador, Team Saxo-Tinkoff
54 Vincenzo Nibali, Astana Pro Team
62 Alex Dowsett, Movistar Team
70 Peter Kennaugh, Sky Procycling
89 Cadel Evans, BMC Racing Team
92 Chris Froome, Sky Procycling
94 Fabian Cancellara, RadioShack Leopard
133 Stefano Garzelli, Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
136 Stuart O’Grady, Orica-GreenEdge
147 Paul Voss, Team NetApp-Endura
162 Andy Schleck, RadioShack Leopard
169 Stephen Cummings, BMC Racing Team

Overall
1. Mark CAVENDISH Omega Pharma – Quick-Step 6:08:02
2. Michal KWIATKOWSKI Omega Pharma – Quick-Step 0:02
3. Niki TERPSTRA Omega Pharma – Quick-Step 0:03
4. Tony MARTIN Omega Pharma – Quick-Step
5. Zdenek STYBAR Omega Pharma – Quick-Step
6. Giovanni VISCONTI Movistar Team 0:14
7. Alex DOWSETT Movistar Team
8. Benat INTXAUSTI Movistar Team
9. Juan Jose COBO Movistar Team
10. Andrey AMADOR Movistar Team

17. Cadel EVANS BMC  6.08’21 0’19
18. Stephen CUMMINGS  @ 0’19
25. Vincenzo NIBALI ASTANA 0’23
39. Peter KENNAUGH SKY  0’28
40. Christopher FROOME SKY 0’28
44. Albert CONTADOR TEAM SAXO – TINKOFF ’32
60. Lars BOOM Blanco0’40
71. Paul VOSS TEAM Net-App-Endura 0’42
94. Daniel MARTIN Garmin-Sharp 1’00
141.Zakkari DEMPSTER Net-App-Endura 1’57

 

 

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