Goss grabs win in Tour of Britain

Australian Matthew Goss timed his sprint finish to perfection to win the second stage of the Tour of Britain.

CSC's Goss, 21, who won the third stage of last year's race, avoided a major crash to edge out Garmin-Chipotle's Julian Dean and Chris Sutton.

GB's Roger Hammond finished fourth, and stage one winner Alessandro Petacchi came sixth to retain the yellow jersey.

"There's a fantastic array of sprinters in the race so I'm delighted to get a stage win," said Goss.

Kristian House held on to the polka-dot jersey for the King of the Mountains after the gruelling 145.4km stage from Milton Keynes to Newbury.

After departing from Milton Keynes, Ian Stannard, Giairo Ermeti and Alejandro Marque made the first break but were quickly dragged back by the peloton.

Britain's Stannard was undeterred though and made a lone break after 50km, at one point building a lead of more than four minutes.

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"It’s encouraging to see our domestic teams with the bit between their teeth, making the most of racing against world-class riders on home soil"
BBC Sport's Phil Sheehan

But the 21-year-old was caught just after the second King of the Mountains mark at Streatley Park by Gabriele Bosisio and Alessandro Spezialetti.

David George and House then launched their own mini-break before the peloton reeled them in, and in a bunch-sprint Goss raced clear.

Hammond's fourth place moved him up to second in the points competition with 22, three behind Petacchi.

Team Columbia team-mate and double Beijing Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins said: "It was a great performance from Roger - I'm here this week to purely help him out.

"Anything I can do to get him up the field, I'll be doing, I know we're capable of competing and mixing it with the best."

Tour of Britain stage two results:

1 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC-Saxo Bank 3hrs 25 mins 11 secs
2 Julian Dean (NZ) Team Garmin-Chipotle, same time
3 Chris Sutton (Aus) Team Garmin-Chipotle, same time
4 Roger Hammond (GB) Team Columbia, same time
5 Greg Henderson (NZ) Team Columbia, same time
6 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes, same time
7 Kristof Goddaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen, same time
8 Zakkari Dempste (Aus) Team SouthAustralia.com, same time
9 Malcolm Elliott (GB) Pinarello RT-Candi TV, same time
10 Ben Swift (GB) Team Great Britain, same time

General classification:

1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes 5hrs 16mins 55secs
2 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC-Saxo Bank, same time
3 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes, at 2 secs
4 Rob Hayles (GB) Team Great Britain, at four secs
5 Daryl Impey (SA) Barloworld, same time
6 Julian Dean (NZ) Garmin-Chipotle, same time
7 Anders Lund (Den) CSC-Saxo Bank, same time
8 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Garmin-Chipotle at six secs
9 Ian Stannard (GB), Team Great Britain, at seven secs
10 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Rock Racing, same time

Selected others:

11 Russell Downing (GB) Pinarello RT-Candi TV, at eight secs
14 Roger Hammond (GB) Team Columbia, at 10 secs
16 Dean Downing (GB) Rapha-Condor, same time
18 Jonathan Bellis (GB) CSC-Saxo Bank, same time
20 Ben Swift (GB) Team Great Britain, same time
26 Malcolm Elliott (GB) Pinarello RT-Candi TV, same time
28 Geraint Thomas (GB), Barloworld, same time
48 David Millar (GB), Garmin-Chipotle, same time
49 Steve Cummings (GB), Barloworld, same time
92 Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Columbia, at 56 secs

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