Australia’s Matthew Goss won the second stage of the Tour of Britain after outsprinting the field on Monday.

Goss avoided the chaos caused by a collision towards the end of the stage in Newbury, south-west of London, and finished just ahead of his Garmin-Chipotle team-mates Julian Dean and Chris Sutton.

Alessandro Petacchi, who won the first stage in London, retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after a sixth-place finish.

“There is a fantastic array of sprinters in the race so I’m delighted to have been able to get to the front and get a stage win,” said the 21-year-old Tasmanian Goss. “Britain is almost like a home track for me now.

“It was a tough stage and tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) stage (Chard to
Burnham-on-Sea) is tough as well so it’s going to be a matter of making sure I get through that and see how I get on,” the 2006 World Team Pursuit champion added.

“Looking at the weather forecast tomorrow we’re going to need something to keep us afloat after all of the rain so we’ll concentrate on doing that and see where we end up.”