After winning Italy’s biggest one-day bike race, Milan San-Remo, at the start of the season Tasmania’s Matt Goss spent a month at the top of cycling’s world rankings and has now added his name to the already impressive list of riders to have joined the GreenEDGE Cycling team.
Having started the season in brilliant fashion the 24-year-old is aiming to close out the season in a similar manner as he prepares for the elite men’s road race at this year’s UCI Road World Championships, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Sunday 26 September.
Goss’s preparation for the World Championships was interrupted when he was forced to abandon the Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain, 20 August – 11 September) during the second stage, due to a virus, but says he’s doing all he can to be in the right condition to fight for the rainbow jersey.

“Ideally I’d like to still be at the Vuelta and not recovering from a virus,” Goss said.
“But we’ve got to take every situation as it comes and as I was on my way home from the Vuelta I was on the phone talking to the Australian selectors about the right race and training program for me to prepare for the World Championship.
“It’s not ideal but if we can get everything right over the next four weeks then we’re in with a good chance to get a good result.
“It’s a course that suits me and it’s not going to be the nicest weather, which also suits me. I started the season on a high note and I’m aiming to end the season on a high note. “
Cadel Evans became the first Australian to win the Elite Men’s Road race in 2009, when he claimed the rainbow jersey with a solo win, but this year’s edition is expected to favour the sprinters.
After his win at Milan-San Remo, ahead of Fabian Cancellara and Philippe Gilbert, Goss is among the pre-race favourites for the World Championships alongside his current team-mate Mark Cavendish.
Despite being one of the younger riders on the team Goss will head into the 2012 as one of GreenEDGE’s leaders, a prospect that doesn’t appear to faze him.
“There’s going to be more pressure as a team leader but I work well with pressure. It’s not as if I’ve come from riding down the back of the bunch to all of a sudden being the protected rider,” he said.
“The reason I joined HTC-Highroad two years ago was to get a little more leadership responsibility and it’s slowly increased. It’s been a gradual process and I’m ready to take on more of a leadership role.”
GreenEDGE Cycling General Manager, Shayne Bannan, said, in addition to his natural physical talent, one of the key factors in Goss’s success is his ability to handle pressure.
“As a 17-year-old he spearheaded the Australian team to success at the junior track world championship. Then at just 19 he was part of Australia’s World Championship winning team pursuit quartet on the track. Both of these results show that he’s a born leader who’s not prone to succumbing to pressure,” Bannan said.
Beyond the opportunity to take on a bigger leadership role Goss says a major factor in joining GreenEDGE is the perfect match between his objectives and the team’s.
“From the start GreenEDGE has stated they want to be successful in the classics and go to the stage races targeting stage wins and that’s perfect for me,” he said.
“I’d like to back up with another great Milan-San Remo and learn from Baden Cooke and Stuart O’Grady at the cobblestoned classic because they have so much experience in those races.
“And then to go into the tours sprinting for stage wins after working for (Mark) Cavendish and (Andrie) Greipel for the last couple of years is the best opportunity for me to put my name on some of those big honour rolls.
“We’ll have the right team to achieve these goals.
“We’ve seen O’Grady working with Fabian Cancellara for the last couple of years and how successful that’s been. Now with Stuey on our team and guys like Baden Cooke, Matt Wilson and Simon Gerrans these are all guys prepared to put it all on the line for each other. It’s going to make it a great team to be a part of.”
Goss says the team is almost the who’s-who of Australian cycling and that when he was growing up, dreaming of racing in Europe, he never even the thought of being able to ride for an Australian team saying, “to sign with the first Australian team, to race at this level, is groundbreaking.”
“It’s something that when I reach the end of my career I’ll be able to look back on as something I’ll be proud to have been a part of.”