Mr. Versatility

Anthony Tan recalls the day Milano-Sanremo winner Matthew Goss first made an impression on him, which gave a clue to his now eminent versatility.

Matthew Goss' now renowned versatility first caught my attention two-and-a-half years ago.

It was in mid-October 2008, at the Herald Sun Tour in Victoria. Winning the prelude race and opening road stage wasn't too much of a surprise – his track background as a junior under-19 and senior team pursuit world champion, along with a half-dozen semi-pro wins before his neo-pro year in 2007, was proof aplenty he was fast – but it was what he did for his then team-mate Stuart O'Grady a few days later that left an indelible mark in my mind.

The fourth stage of the Sun Tour, a 115.4-kilometre ride from Alexandra to the top of the ski station of Mount Buller, appeared to be a day when Goss, along with his then Team CSC team-mates, would shelter O'Grady, as race leader, to the base of the near 17km ascent. Then, it would be largely up to Freckles and team-mate Lars Bak to hang on to the noted climbers and limit their losses before the following day's time trial, which would ultimately decide the race.

But upon reaching the base of climb Goss, 21 at the time and until that day, had shown no sign of his climbing prowess, did not roll off. (Perhaps in hindsight, his win at the GP Liberazione in 2006, one of Italy's most prestigious amateur races held on a hilly circuit on the outskirts of Rome, gave some indication, albeit inconclusive.)

On top of the 1,600 metre climb, as I kept hearing updates over race radio that Goss was leading the charge up the mountain and in doing so, spitting riders out the back, I thought that maybe the commissaires calling the shots had got it wrong – but then I remembered Goss was wearing the green jersey as leader of the sprints classification; impossible for even those bespectacled old codgers to stuff up, soon placing that theory to rest.

As this photo on Cyclingnews shows (see here), Goss continued his pace-setting for O'Grady and Bak right up till the final kilometres. The fruits of his labour saw Bak and Stuey 1-2 on GC by day's end; the pair reversing their positions another day later after O'Grady won the time trial, and a day after that, his first Herald Sun Tour.

Mount Buller, a base I used for a number of training camps myself when I was a bike racer, is a climber's climb (I still fondly remember setting the fastest time up there some 15 years ago, although I was in such severe oxygen deficit, someone had to tell me about my pyrrhic victory an hour later when I realised I hadn't died and gone to hell). Even for a sprinter even on his best day, it's still not for him.

So when the TV highlights rolled later that evening and confirmed it was indeed Goss, I knew this man was something special, and would go on to great things.

No, I won't be so full of myself and say I knew he'd win Milano-Sanremo last Saturday and become the first Australian to do so. But I will say I knew he was unique, and that later on, his characteristics would resemble an alchemy of Alejandro Valverde, Laurent Jalabert and Sean Kelly.

The way this lad from Tassie's Tamar River seemingly shrugged off what would have been his biggest stage race triumph at this year's Santos Tour Down Under and blamed no-one – even though on the final day, his team botched one of the intermediate sprints and could've done a better final lead-out, which, had he won either, would've granted him overall victory – also says much about his composure and maturity, which will no doubt place him in good stead in the months and years to come.

"I guess it's a little bit of a disappointment, but it's also not a bad result; the team rode awesome all week and they completely supported me. I can't thank those guys enough," were Goss' words straight after losing the TDU by two seconds to his contemporary and countryman Cameron Meyer – who won by the equal-closest winning margin in the race's thirteen-year history.

What a champion in defeat. No wonder he bounced back so quickly to win a stage in Oman and Paris-Nice before his greatest career victory to date at La Primavera.

Are his opportunities stifled by the presence of Cavendish, who admits Goss is the only person he fears in a finish?

For now, I don't think so.

Cavendish in fine fettle is still faster in the big bunch gallops that we see at the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France – whereas Goss has the versatility that more often than not precludes a rider like Cavendish contesting the final, as he's already demonstrated with wins in Paris-Brussels (2009), GP Plouay and Philly (2010), and podiums in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (2008) and Gent-Wevelgem (2009).

It is unlike the scenario we saw with Greipel and Cavendish the previous two years, where both riders are pure sprinters and were gunning for selection and vying for victory in the same races. In fact, it is my belief that not having the responsibility of outright leadership, but more shadow leadership, has benefited Goss immensely in his formative years as a professional.

As with all winners who thrive on the big stage and under enormous pressure, his ambitions will only grow. Whether Goss can get faster still to contest some of those classic Grand Tour gallops only time will tell, and if that does happen, he'll then need to ask himself the question: "Is my future still at HTC-High Road?"

But if he were a company on the stock exchange, the order would undoubtedly be one of buy, and buy now.