Goss rockets to stage win, GC lead

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Stage three of Paris-Nice was doubly special for Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad) as he won his first career stage in Paris-Nice and with the time bonus took over the general classification lead. The 24-year-old Tasmanian outkicked Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo) and Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha) in a chaotic field sprint into Nuits-Saint-Georges which saw Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) crash moments after the last turn onto the finishing straight.

Goss said it had been a tough final sprint, which saw him dart from one side of the road to the other to avoid the fallen riders and then go for the win at the end of a hilly 202km stage.

"It was certainly difficult, I was a little bit too far back in the last corner and was lucky to get round the crash, but once I got past them I had a straight run and it went well," said Goss. "I was very motivated for today's stage, I knew if I could get over the final five-kilometre climb I'd be in with a good shot, the finish was perfect for me.

"We just missed out on the first sprint on stage one, the second one I was a little bit boxed in, but today it worked out fine."

"It was a very scrappy finish, but they seem to suit Matt, he surfs the other teams lead-outs and then goes for it himself," added HTC-Highroad's sports director Allan Peiper, "He just missed out yesterday (Monday), but today he really put the score straight."

Goss assumed the race lead from Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM), wearer of the yellow jersey since his stage win on the opening stage, by two seconds. Haussler moves into third overall, six seconds off the pace.

"Tomorrow's a tough stage to defend the lead, but it's not impossible," said Goss, who also leads the best young rider classification. "There are two climbs about 50 kilometers from the finish, so hopefully I can get over them ok and at least hold it for another day.

"It's been a perfect start to the year. I can only hope it keeps going for as long as possible."

From the gun

The break of the day formed immediately as stage three began with an attack by Cédric Pineau (FDJ). He was joined by Blel Kadri (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Jussi Veikkanen (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and Romain Hardy (Bretagne-Schuller) and the quintet quickly built up a lead over the momentarily complacent peloton.

Only 5km into the stage the escapees' lead stood at two minutes and by the 50km mark the quintet had stretched their advantage to 4:35, at which point Vacansoleil-DCM, the team of race leader Thomas De Gendt, upped the pace in the peloton to hold the break in check.

At the first sprint line of the stage in Cervon at 74.5km, won by Pineau over Gautier and Hardy, their lead had dropped slightly to 3:50 and as the race approached the 100km mark the quintet's lead was reduced to 2:15. Perhaps not wanting to make the catch too soon, the chase effort in the peloton eased slightly and the break's lead once again stretched back to 3:45 with 75km remaining.

The stage's second sprint line, in Essey at 156km, was taken by Gautier and the five escapees still remained off the front at the foot of the day's only KOM, albeit with a lead of only one minute due to the pacemaking efforts of Vacansoleil-DCM's Stijn Devolder and Sergey Lagutin.

Veikkanen attacked his break companions on the 5km ascent to the KOM line of the category 2 Côte de Bécoup to take maximum points and the lead in the mountains classification. The break regrouped after the summit, but were soon caught by the peloton after enjoying approximately 180km of freedom for the day.

Moments after the catch was made French champion Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) attacked on a short uphill drag and an attentive Kadri latched onto his wheel. The duo jumped out to a 20-second lead but the teams of the sprinters, particularly Garmin-Cervelo, Liquigas-Cannondale, Sky and Katusha, neutralised their escape with 5km remaining.

The peloton had to negotiate several bends in the closing kilometres and as they made the final left-hand turn onto the finishing straight with 300m remaining, Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) crashed near the head of the peloton. Several riders went down when they plowed into Sagan, but Goss avoided the crash and powered to the finish line to take his seventh win of the season and the Paris-Nice leader's yellow jersey.

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