Goss leads Saxo Bank 1-2

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Saxo Bank took home its third stage victory of the tour and its second from Australian Matthey Goss. While acting as final lead-out man for the team's sprinting ace, J.J. Haedo, Goss pulled out such a large lead that Haedo allowed him to cross the line first.

The overall victory went to Cofidis' Julien El Fares, who rode into the yellow jersey after making the breakaway on the penultimate stage. Pavel Brutt (Katusha) and Alexander Kolobnev (Saxo Bank) rounded out the final podium.

Haedo made the day's 12-man breakaway, but the team decided to bring it back for the bunch sprint since Haedo was out-manned without teammates in the move.

"It was a very exciting day, very fast from the beginning," Haedo said. "It was good for me to be in the break, but since I was alone, the guys had to chase hard so that we could bring the odds back to our favour."

"After chasing so hard to bring the pack back together, the guys still managed to get me into perfect position for the sprint," said Haedo, who won the second stage.

"We had Matthew Goss lined up as last lead-out man for J.J. and when J.J. saw that no one was going to come around them, he put his hands up in the air and let Gossy take the win," said team director Brad McGee. "That is such a nice, generous gesture and not something that every sprinter would do."

The gentlemanly Haedo saw this as an opportunity to pay back the hard work his teammate has done all week. "I saw the chance to give Matthew the win and was glad to do it since he has been so strong all week," Haedo said. "I really appreciate all the work he and the other guys do for me."

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