Goss motivated for World's

Talented young Australian rider Matthew Goss, who last week signed with Danish team CSC after wearing the leader's jersey in the Tour of Britain, is especially motivated to do well in the World Championships later this month. Goss, who has won the world championship in team pursuit earlier this year, a stage in U26 Giro d'Italia and two stages in the Vuelta Navarra so far in his career, had to drop out of the Tour of Britain but is hopeful that his form will be there in two weeks' time.

"Unfortunately I had to abandon the race due to pains in my knee," he explained. "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," Goss said. "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."

The 19 year-old, who will be in his second year as a pro in 2007, hopes to improve his skills as a time triallist with the squad directed by Bjarne Riis. "I'm probably best in one day races, when I make the decisive break in a small group," explained Goss, who would later like to do well in races like Het Volk and Milano-Sanremo. "I'm decent in the mountains, but not super, and probably not so strong in stage races. I'm okay in time trials, and I think I can be even better. So far it's mostly been time trials up to 25 kilometres, but I'm sure joining CSC will improve my time trial skills a lot."

In any case, the young Aussie is ambitious. "I hope to be at the top in my sport or on my way there," he responded to the question as to where he saw himself in five years' time. "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."