Australian sprinter Matt Goss started Milan-Sanremo as the HTC Highroad team’s Plan B behind Mark Cavendish, but he proved that he deserves top billing when he thundered to an impressive victory this afternoon. The 24 year old made it over the Poggio in a group ten seconds behind lone leader Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team), bided his time after the Belgian was brought back, and then kicked hard inside the final 200 metres to snatch his biggest win to date.
The 2008 victor Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) sprinted in second, a bike length ahead of the disappointed pre-race favourite Philippe Gilbert. The Omega Pharma Lotto rider was clearly one of the strongest in the race, but his all-out attack two kilometres from the finish line was foiled when Filippo Pozzato (Team Katusha) dragged the rest of the break up to him.
Gilbert positioned himself on the wheel of Michele Scarponi when the Lampre-ISD rider jumped first in the sprint, but Goss drew alongside and then powered clear easily.
2008 world road race champion Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing Team) and Pozzato were fourth and fifth, being the best-placed Italians in their spring Classic.
“I knew I'd been going well, I knew I could get a good result, but actually to get the win is incredible,” Goss said. “I knew Gilbert was dangerous and would try for an attack on the Poggio, so I rode across to that front group just as we reached the top, and once I was with them I knew I was in with a chance."
“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. The descent was fast, but it wasn't too tricky because fortunately it wasn't wet, and with 500 meters to go I just gave it everything I had and hoped for the best.”
Cancellara went close to repeating his victory of 2008, but came up against a very fast rider. “I was here to win,” he said. “The team rode really well, and I tried to finish that off, but I didn't succeed. I even tried go go alone but eveyone was on my wheel. In the end, I did one of the best sprints of my life but Goss was unbeatable.”
Early break, then unexpected split:
The first big attack went fifteen kilometres into the race when Alessandro De Marchi (Androni-Giocattoli), Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha), Nico Sijmens (Cofidis) and Takashi Miyazawa (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli) clipped away.
Japanese champion Miyazawa was particularly motivated, having led the minute’s silence held this morning for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in his country. He was visibly moved during the brief ceremony, looking emotional as he waited at the start line with the Japanese flag draped over his handlebars.
Once the racing got underway, he channelled that feeling into going clear and putting on a big display for his country.
The break covered 47 kilometres in the first hour and clocked up a lead of over ten minutes. This continued to grow and went up to a maximum of fourteen minutes. However it had dropped back to six minutes after 150 kilometres of racing.
The quartet up front realised that it was not going to be their day, but they remained committed as their presence in the break meant that their teams didn’t have to do any work behind.
The peloton raced on towards the climb of La Manie, driven along by the Garmin-Cervélo, Sky Procycling and Rabobank teams, but in the jostling for positions several went down. These fallers included world road race champion Thor Hushovd and while the acceleration in the bunch brought the break’s lead down to under two minutes, the Norwegian found himself off the back and chasing hard.
Fabian Cancellara’s Leopard Trek team decided to try to profit from his misfortune and drove the pace along. Quick Step rider Sylvain Chavanel also crashed and lost time. Once over the top and on the descent, last year’s winner Oscar Freire (Rabobank) also came a cropper, losing it on a sweeping right hand bend. He didn’t appear to be badly injured, but his bike was damaged and he was delayed for quite some time.
“The rain started falling and I fell,” he said afterwards. “Things went a very different way than I had wanted.”
Inside the final 80 kilometres, his team car finally made it up to him and helped him get sorted out. However his chase back was frustrated by a huge crash ahead, which split the bunch and put many key riders on the defensive. 2009 champion Mark Cavendish (HTC Highroad) was delayed, as was Hushovd’s team-mate Tyler Farrar, Hushovd, Italian champion Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli) and many others. They were two minutes back at the town of Laigueglia, while up front the break had been hauled back. This resulted in a lead group of 44 riders.
With 30 kilometres to go, the gap between the two bunches was one minute ten seconds. Philippe Gilbert was one of those in the group ahead, as was his team-mate Andre Greipel, Cancellara, Goss, Pozzato, Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing Team), Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky), Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervélo), Tom Boonen (Quick Step) and others.
Those behind were chasing hard but while the gap dropped to just over a minute on the Capo Berta climb, attacks by Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas-Canondale) and then Alessandro Ballan on the Cipressa drove the pace up again. Behind, Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) put in a huge attack near the top of the climb and rocketed clear, the Italian making a bid to close the gap to the front group by himself. Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack) tried a similar move afterwards, but he was hauled back several kilometres later. Scarponi persisted and drew closer to those ahead.
Dramatic finale:
Up front, Steve Chainel (FDJ) clipped away on the descent of the Cipressa, and was soon joined by his team-mate Yoann Offredo, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) and Stuart O’Grady (Leopard Trek). They opened a decent lead, while behind, 15 kilometres from the finish, Scarponi managed to get across to the Gilbert-Cancellara group.
With ten kilometres left, the four leaders had a solid 28 second lead over the chasers, while the Cavendish/Farrar/Hushovd group was well out of the running. Once onto the Poggio, the break remained together for a kilometre or so, then Van Avermaet launched a big move with 8.6km to go. Chainel blew completely, while Offredo and O’Grady chased in vain.
“George [Hincapie] told me to go between the Cipressa and the Poggio so I did and quickly got a gap,” he explained afterwards. “It was good for me because I could ride my own pace on the Poggio.”
The chase group hit the slopes and recognised that there was a danger that Van Avermaet could push home his advantage. Nibali launched a move but was covered by Gilbert and others; the latter then tried his own surge, but he was very closely marked.
Nibali tried again near the top and got a gap while the other favourites looked at each other. He caught and dropped Chainel, then bridged across to Offredo and O’Grady with 6.5 kilometres left. However Cancellara, Gerdemann and several of the others latched onto the back of this group just going over the top, and then continued to reduce Van Avermaet’s lead on the descent. The Belgian was finally caught 2.5 kilomeres from the line.
A persistent Offredo tried again; he was brought back by Cancellara, who tried to clip clear. However he was marked by Goss, and the move went nowhere. Gilbert then put in a big dig with two kilometres left, causing Pozzato to chase and to ultimately catch him just over a kilometre from the line. It was a clear case of one rider marking another out of contention, while also ensuring that he couldn't win either. Niballi then clipped away under the kite, but he too was reeled in. It meant a sprint was inevitable, and Goss was quickest of the eight in the dash for the line, comfortably taking his biggest win and netting HTC Highroad’s second victory in three years at La Primavera.
As was stated in VeloNation’s Matt Goss interview in the days leading up to the race, his strong form this season was enough to put him into the front group. It was even better than that, though, as he proved quickest of all and became the first Australian winner of the prestigious Classic.
“It's been absolutely incredible,” he smiled, gradually realising what he had done. “I couldn't have dreamed up a better start to the year.”