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Goss ready for orange jersey battle for Down Under

Oct 20, 2009
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<p>Tasmanian Matt Goss lost the overall race lead at the Tour Down Under today in Strathalbyn, but he refuses to lay down his arms.</p><p>
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"The time gap is not big at the moment, it can't be much," explained Goss. "We will look forward to tomorrow and hopefully get the bonus seconds again."</p><p>
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Goss' HTC-Highroad team chased down the escape, but failed to crush its advantage. Cameron Meyer (Garmin-Cervélo) jumped away from the escape and won. With his time advantage and bonus seconds, 'Cam' now leads Goss by 12 seconds and Lauren Ten Dam by 10 seconds in the overall classification.</p><p>
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The Tour Down Under ends in two days. Riders face a hilly stage tomorrow to Willunga and a flat, circuit stage on Sunday in Adelaide. Goss will be able to gain critical seconds in both stages if he figures in the sprints or wins the stages.</p><p>
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"There are sprint seconds and bonus seconds on the line as well tomorrow in Willunga. I will try to take some seconds there and, if need be, the last day in Adelaide, there's sprints there and also the finish line. Still plenty of opportunities to get the bonus seconds back, but it's just a bit more stress."</p><p>
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Goss manages the stress well. He has already spent two days in the leader's jersey thanks to winning the first stage of the Tour Down Under. He and his HTC-Highroad team were a little tired today, though. They were force to defend Goss' lead and received little support.</p><p>
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"We all missed timed the chase back, we didn't catch those guys there and there were three teams that should have been riding. We rode on the front all day, but it was not until later, until the last 10 to 15 kilometres, until someone decided they were going to help us, but it was too late. RadioShack with one guy. Lotto put someone up there with about 10 to 15 Ks from the finish. There wasn't enough horse power," Goss added.</p><p>
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"There wasn't really any surprises in the course, we knew what it was like, we knew it was pretty short compared to the other ones, we knew it was up and down all the way. There were no real surprises. It was just... I don't know, maybe tomorrow's going to be a better day."</p><p>
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Meyer starts tomorrow's stage with the race leader's orange jersey. He became a professional in 2009, but has yet to win a stage race.</p><p>
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"He is obviously strong, he hung out there all day. He is going to be out there in the front tomorrow in Willunga, but hopefully I can get him in the sprints and at the finish line," said Goss. "I guess I have a couple of years of experience [over him]. I have a super strong team here and they have been supportive all week."</p>

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