HTC-Columbia's Matt Goss tacked another win onto his already successful season today in Brittany at the GP Ouest France-Plouay. The Australian timed his sprint to perfection, and was able to overhaul a charging Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) and hold off Yoann Offredo (Française des Jeux) on the rise to the finish. His win in France marks the 23 year old's fourth of a season that includes victories at the Philadelphia International Championship and stages in both the Tour of Denmark and the Giro d'Italia.
"Plouay is a long, hard race and so it's nice to get a win. This is a big one and is really good for my confidence," Goss said after the race. "The race is held on a very testing circuit and so it's similar to a world championship circuit: there are a lot of laps and lot of climbing per lap."
This year's world championships are being held at home in Geelong, and he will hope to be present on the Australian team's roster. Despite being ill prior to the race, Goss rode strongly and made sure he saved enough energy for the finish.
"It was tough, but I knew I had a great chance if it came down to a sprint. The last lap was very nervous and there was a good break in front," he added. "We knew we had to get it back and so did the other teams. It was close but then I just made sure I was in the right place for the sprint."
197 riders headed out for the 248.3 kilometer 74th edition of the GP Ouest France-Plouay, with a break of eight riding clear in the first of 13 laps. The composition of the group was Frenchmen Benoît Vaugrenard (Française des Jeux), Français Mickaël Delage (Omegha Pharma–Lotto), Laurent Mangel (Saur–Sojasun) and Mathieu Drujon (Caisse d’Epargne), American Danny Pate (Garmin-Transitions), Russian Ivan Rovny (RadioShack), Spaniard Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel–Euskadi) and Japanese rider Yukihiro Doi (Skil–Shimano).
The race was content with the move, and let their advantage get up to nearly eight minutes after the first lap of the undulating circuit. It swelled to a massive 13 minutes and 45 seconds a lap later. The peloton decided they had given the leaders enough freedom at that point, and began the process of bringing them back into the fold. With 50 kilometers left to race, their advantage had been completely wiped away.
A steady stream of attacks ensued, including Frenchmen Christophe Moreau (Caisse d'Epargne), Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) and Pierrick Fédrigo (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), but no combination had the power to hold off a charging HTC-Columbia team. The finale saw Irishman Dan Martin (Garmin-Transitions) emerge from the final group of leaders with only 4 kilometers remaining, but the chase behind proved too much for the 23 year old, and he was caught as the finish line came into view. In the end it was Goss that proved strongest, giving his American team its 51st victory of the season
2010 GP Ouest France-Plouay results:
1. Matthew Goss (HTC-Columbia)
2. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions)
3. Yoann Offredo (Française des Jeux)
4. Leonardo Duque (Cofidis)
5. José Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne)
6. Mauro Santambrogio (BMC Racing)
7. Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo)
8. Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-Farnese Vini)
9. Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil)
10. Roman Feillu (Vacansoleil)