Australian sprinter following same early season programme as in year he won Milan-Sanremo
Orica GreenEdge sprinter Matt Goss plus four of his team-mates are planning a very early start to the season, with the 27 year old rider hoping to return to the form which netted him the 2011 Milan Sanremo plus some other big results.
Goss, national road race and time trial champion Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn, Leigh Howard and Mitch Docker will all line out in the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic, which begins on January 2nd.
The first of the criteriums will take place at Ritchie Boulevard at Geelong Eastern Beach, with the subsequent three days’ racing located in Eastern Park in Geelong, Portarlington and Williamstown.
“We will be going in with the aim of winning at least a couple of stages out of the four,” said Orica GreenEdge directeur sportif Matt Wilson.
“They aren’t easy races to win though, as they are super competitive criteriums and most guys are coming into January and the early season with great form. But it’s always good for the team to get some early wins; it really sets us up for a great year and helps the guys to build in confidence leading into the big early season races.”
Goss rode the Bay series in 2011, taking the first and fourth stages plus the overall. He then went on to take the Cancer Council Helpline Classic just before the Santos Tour Down Under, and also clocked up a stage, the sprint classification and second overall in the WorldTour race.
His strong form continued in the Tour of Oman and Paris-Nice, where he nabbed a stage in each, before then taking the Milan-Sanremo Classic.
He’s looking to repeat that fine early season form and believes that getting his racing going early on is important in that regard.
Wilson said that the Orica GreenEdge quintet was carefully chosen. “We usually take a team that balances the riders’ personal objectives with the team’s objectives for the race.
“For example, we have Durbridge and Hepburn, who are preparing for the national time trial championship, and Goss preparing to be our sprinter for TDU (Tour Down Under) and the (Jayco Herald) Sun Tour.
“These short sprint-style crits are perfect preparation for both of those objectives. They really help the guys to fine tune their form in the lead in to those races, and these guys should all be capable of winning on any of the four days of racing at the Bay Crits.”
In the two years since his 2011 season, Goss hasn’t been able to repeat the same form but hopes to be back on track in 2014.
2014 Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic
Stages:
Stage 1, Thursday January 2nd: Ritchie Boulevard, Geelong Eastern Beach
Stage 2, Friday January 3rd: Eastern Park, Geelong
Stage 3, Saturday January 4th: Portarlington
Stage 4, Sunday January 5th: Williamstown