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06.09.2006/ Last week Team CSC signed the talented Australian rider Matthew Goss,
who in this interview talks about, why he chose the Danish team and also reveals some of his future plans for his cycling
career.
I looked at the complete package Team CSC could offer me, and with so much experience among the management and riders, I believe
this team can give me a lot more than any other team. There's a good structure on the team and I think I'll get the opportunity
to develop into the kind of rider I wanna be," says Matthew Goss.
Goss doesn't know many of the riders on Team CSC,
however he does know the team's other Australians.
"I know Stuart O'Grady from before and I've also met some of the
other guys at the Tour of Britain, among them Luke Roberts, and at the team training later this year, I'll meet all the other
riders and staff," says Goss.
This year's Tour of Britain was one of the biggest experiences in Matthew's career with
a second place behind his future team mate Martin Pedersen in stage one and the leader's jersey after stage two.
"Unfortunately
I had to abandon the race due to pains in my knee. I'm in pretty good shape at the moment, so to not make the injury worse,
I chose to leave the race, even though it was a difficult decision being in the leader's jersey and with a good chance of
the overall win," says Goss. "Still, it's more important for me to be in great shape for the world championships, which is
my biggest priority this season. I'm not doing the time trial, only the U23 road race."
Goss tries to explain a little
bit about what kind of rider he is:
"I'm probably best in one day races, when I make the decisive break in a small
group. I'm decent in the mountains, but not super, and probably not so strong in stage races. I'm ok in time trials, and I
think I can be even better. So far it's mostly been time trials up to 25 kilometers, but I'm sure joining Team CSC will improve
my time trial skills a lot," says the 19-year-old Australian.
When Matthew Goss after this season joins Team CSC, it
will be his second full season as a professional rider. In 2006 he has been riding for the 3rd Division team SouthAustralia.com,
and in 2005 he traveled around Europe for four months with a kind of Australian national team.
"In 2005 I was riding
as an amateur, but it's pretty much the same races we've done this season, just more races because we're professionals now.
And then we've done a couple of big races like Tour of Britain and Hessen Rundfahrt," explains Goss, who has been living in
Varese, outside Milan this year, but is considering moving to Monaco, in order to train with O'Grady.
If you ask Matthew
Goss where he sees himself in five years, the answer is:
"I hope to be at the top in my sport or on my way there. I
don't want to be just another rider, I want to be a rider, who wins a lot of races and makes a difference," says Goss, who's
goal is to do particularly well in races like Het Volk and Milano-Sanremo.
Together with the world championship in
team pursuit earlier this year, the yellow jersey in Tour of Britain, a stage win in U26 Giro d'Italia and two victories in
Vuelta Navarra have so far been the highlights of Goss' career.
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