Goss bests Brutt in two-man sprint

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Team Saxo Bank's Matt Goss took a surprise stage win on the third day of the Tour de Wallonie on Monday. Goss was part of an early three-man breakaway that survived to the finish line with just seconds over the charging peloton.  The team never planned on the escape staying clear, but Goss was able to pull off the stage win in style ahead of Pavel Brutt (Katusha).

 "To be honest I wasn't certain whether the break could last since it was a long, hilly day, I figured we would probably get caught with 20 or 30 kilometers left to race," Goss explained.

"But with 10k to go we still had 1:30 and so we really pushed hard together to make it work."

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Goss, Brutt and Nicolas Sijmens (Cofidis) escaped the peloton early in the stage, but when crux time came with 20km to go, Sijmens could no longer hold the pace of his two companions.

"Once we got rid of the Cofidis rider, we really threw everything into making the break last," Goss said. "We basically did the same amount of work with an eye to fighting it out at the finish."

The miserable rain which plagues so many of the Belgian spring races descended upon the stage to make for a treacherous day over bergs and cobbles.

With one kilometre to go, the racers went up a steep, cobbled climb which had fortunately dried up a bit before the riders came through. "The cobbled climb was pretty steep but luckily it wasn't too wet, though the roads leading up to it had a lot of turns which were very wet and dangerous," Goss said.

"[Brutt] led up the climb while I followed close behind and sprinted around him with 100 meters or so to go, it was definitely a tough little finish."