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| Matt Goss joins a growing list of contendors for the 2011 Tour de France's yellow jersey |
As Spyns diligently prepares for its 2011 Tour de France tours, I'm seeing a fairly crowded list of favorites like Wiggins, Cavendish, Evans, Schleck, and Contador to name a few. But we at Spyns love an underdog so while I was originally rooting for Andy with a strong second going to Cavesh, I would enjoy seeing someone like Matt Goss win Yellow in Paris. Moreover, he's humble, polite, and is anything but a prima donna.
Fueled by nothing more than a bowl of pasta, corn flakes and confidence from some recent recon, Goss rode off with his greatest ever victory when he became the first Australian in 104 years to win the famous Milan-San Remo race. Goss put into practice a lesson learned from watching the race on TV a few years ago to win one of the Five Monuments of world one-day cycling with his victory over two of the best sprinters in the world in Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara and Belgian Philippe Gilbert.
Cancellara, who was expected to dominate the eight-man rush for the line, later paid Goss the compliment of his career. "I think I had one of the best sprints of my life but Goss was very strong," said the multiple world time trial champion considered one of the fastest men on two wheels. With seven wins behind him already this season, the likeable Goss was installed as one of the pre-race favourites for victory in the 298km classic which dates back to 1907 and is with the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Tour of Lombardy one of the five Monuments of one-day racing.
But employing the tactic of staying close to Cancellara in the final run for the line - something he opted to do after studying the big Swiss rider on TV - set Goss up for the biggest win of his career. "It's been absolutely incredible," said Goss who has now won eight races in a season which kicked off with his second overall in the Tour Down Under in January. "I couldn't have dreamed up a better start to the year. I knew I'd been going well, I knew I could get a good result, but actually to get the win is incredible.'' The win saw Goss ride out of the long shadow cast by his multiple Tour de France stage winning teammate Mark Cavendish who finshed well back in the peloton yesterday.
My feeling is Cavendish will hold back this yea as his focus is winning cycling gold in London at next summer's Olympic Games. Andy Schleck seems to be floundering and I'm not quite sure if he has the stuff to win the yellow jersey. A well rested Cadel Evans has an outside chance but he's so accident prone and may likely get injured in the month-long 2011 Tour de France. Goss, on the other hand, has never looked better. He lives in nearby Monaco and was part of a breakaway group which formed around 70km from the finish, said he knew the route well, particularly the Cipressa and Poggio climbs near the end of the race. "It was an advantage knowing the route. I live nearby and I've trained over the Poggio a few times in the last few days just to check it again," he said.
Spyns is an active travel company based in Whister, BC (Canada) and Beaujolais France. Spyns specializes in 2011 Tour de France packages for both riders and non-riders. We specialize in providing clients with Tour de France bike and non-biking packages with Paris grandstand seats and VIP access. Spyns offers active holidays to Europe including trips to the 2011 Tour de France. For more information about Spyns 2011 Tour de France tours, please go to http://www.tdf-tours.com/ or http://www.spyns.com/. You can also call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.
