PARIS, April 9, 2011 – Australian Matthew Goss says he won’t be
satisfied with anything less than a top ten finish in the tough Paris-Roubaix
classic on Sunday.

The Tasmanian all-rounder is enjoying his best season to date, having
followed up a strong showing at the Tour Down Under with victories in the Tour
of Oman, Paris-Nice and, notably, the Milan-SanRemo classic.

Despite finishing outside the time limit in last year’s ‘Hell of the
North’, a year on the 24-year-old from Launceston believes he has the tools to
finish with the best.

“I’d love to finish inside the top ten here, I really want a good result,”
Goss told AFP Saturday.

“We’ve got a good team here so I think we can expect a good result.”

In 2007 another Australian, Stuart O’Grady, made history by becoming the
first cyclist from Down Under to win Paris-Roubaix.

And although Goss wouldn’t mind a similar result in a race he seems
particularly well suited to, he knows it won’t be easy.

There are bigger contenders like defending champion Fabian Cancellara,
three-time champion Tom Boonen and world champion Thor Hushovd, who was
runner-up last year.

Then there are the 51.5 km of cobblestones, spread over 27 sections of the
course and the accumulation of which really grind the peloton down.

“It’s so relentless, it’s just section after section and 51.5 km is a long
time to spend on those roads,” added Goss.

“The first couple you don’t think are so bad, but if you did those same
sections at the end of the race you would think they’re the worst sections.”

Although still sounding stuffed up, Goss claims he is now over the cold and
flu-like symptoms he suffered last week and, having trained on the cobbles
midweek, is ready to fly over the cobbles.

“They (cobbles) don’t get any softer! But we got a chance to test the
equipment on the course, everything feels pretty good and I’m feeling better
than I did last week,” he added.

“I guess they’re not in as good a condition as the cobbles in other races
we do. I suppose these roads aren’t used as much either.”

Goss is HTC-Highroad’s co-leader for the race alongside experienced
Austrian Bernhard Eisel, whose best result in the race was fifth in 2006, won
by Cancellara, while he raced with Francaise des Jeux.

HTC’s sprint specialist Mark Cavendish, who will make his debut, believes
they can both realistically stake their claim for a win.

“Gossy can go well,” said Cavendish. “He won SanRemo, he’s got incredible
form. In training the other day he went really well, so did Bernie (Eisel).

“We should have a really good shot.”

Article: AFP