Australian sprinter Matt Goss taking stealth approach

AUSTRALIA'S best sprinter Matt Goss cancelled his usual summer holiday so he could focus on starting this season in red-hot form.

AUSTRALIA'S best sprinter Matt Goss cancelled his usual summer holiday Down Under so he could focus on starting this season in red-hot form.

While most of his compatriots returned to Australia from Europe in November, Goss remained in Monaco until early January where he did nothing but eat, sleep and train.

The 26-year-old, who was third in the points classification at last year's Tour de France, yesterday said he had never been so fit for the start of a Tour Down Under.

The only question is whether he has the speed in his legs to topple the likes of Andre Greipel this week.

"Sometimes you come back home and there's a lot of stuff on, you just end up going from one event to another and it's easy to get distracted,'' the Tasmanian said.

"Everyone around you is enjoying their Christmas holidays and you need to be doing your training. You could just go from one barbecue to the next.

"I didn't have the off-season I wanted last year so this year I decided to stay in Monaco and train.

"My coach and trainer are there so I spent every day behind the scooter then went straight into massage.''

It has meant that Goss enters this year's TDU slightly under the radar.

Rather than burst on to the domestic scene at the Bay Criterium Series, Goss rode the Herald Sun Tour and national championships but didn't contest a sprint.

"It has been quieter this year, which is a bit different.

"I haven't raced very much because I flew straight from Europe for the (Herald) Sun Tour the next day.

"I wasn't really racing for results, more for training and to get some intensity into the legs and it worked a treat because I felt a lot better at the national championships the following week.

"So I'm happy everything is going in the right direction and I'm as fit as I ever have been here.''

Goss starred in the 2011 TDU, winning the opening criterium and stage one on his way to finishing second overall.

Last year he played second fiddle to teammate Simon Gerrans, who took the ochre jersey.

This year Orica-GreenEDGE has brought two key men from Goss' sprint train to Adelaide - Daryl Impey and Jens Mouris - so they can work on perfecting the lead-outs they hope will deliver Goss to a Tour de France stage win in July.

"It's a bit wait-and-see this week, I haven't done a sprint yet this year,'' Goss said before last night's People's Choice Classic.

"My shape is good, my fitness is there so I'm confident I'll be there at the pointy end and I've got a strong team to help me.

"Daryl and Jens are here and the more time we spend together the more it will become second nature.''

Goss, who in 2011 became the first Australian to win Italian Classic Milan-San Remo - said a Tour de France stage win topped his wishlist in 2013.

Last year he delivered Orica-GreenEDGE its first Grand Tour stage victory in the Giro d'Italia and had five podium finishes in the Tour de France - including third on the Champs Elysees.

"I still haven't ticked that box so that's where the focus will be this year,'' he said.