Launceston cyclist Matt Goss announces his retirement

“All fun rides must come to an end. Happy to have so many great memories,” he told his 81,897 Twitter followers. 

A combination of weariness, knee tendonitis and the change of priorities of fatherhood prompted the 29-year-old to announce his retirement.

“The decision to retire is never something to be taken lightly but it is one I have put a lot of thought into,” he said.

“I don’t get the same buzz out of racing that I used to and the sport is too hard and competitive to do if you’re not jumping out of your skin to get on the start line at every opportunity.” 

Goss said he wanted to bookend his career in the race which helped launch it.

Twelve years after the unknown teenager upstaged the likes of Stuart O’Grady to claim his home-town Launceston Classic, he has ticked virtually every box in pro cycling.

An Australian representative at world championship, Commonwealth and Olympic level, he became the youngest rider to race in the WorldTour, was involved in stage wins at all three Grand Tours, was a junior and senior world champ on the track and, in 2011, was within a fraction of a second of adding a senior road championship.

That same year provided the pinnacle of his career when Goss outsprinted a who’s who of elite cycling to win the Milan-San Remo one-day race, the first Australian to claim the cherished monument classic.

“I can look back at my career as a professional cyclist and be very happy and proud of what I’ve achieved,” said the Monaco-based former Exeter schoolboy.

“I’ve had the pleasure of winning some fantastic races, creating some great memories and meeting some amazing people across the globe.

“To represent my country at world championship, Commonwealth and Olympic level has been an honour.”

Announcing his retirement through his latest team, ONE Pro Cycling, Goss said he would like his last race to be this year’s Launceston Classic, a race he won in 2004, 2007 and 2010.

“It is a race where probably 14 years ago…they used to bring the pros over and I beat a couple of [them] at the time. That is where people started to notice me, I guess. So it is nice to go back. I am going to do my last criterium there.”

A measure of Goss’s achievements can be gleaned from the reaction of his peers.

Fellow Tasmanians Richie Porte and Wes Sulzberger were in Australian world championship teams and several editions of the Tour de France with Goss. 

“Congrats mate, impressive career! All the best for the next chapter,” Tweeted Sulzberger, a childhood neighbour of Goss in Flowery Gully.

“I don’t think Tasmania understands what Matt Goss has done,” Porte added. “Milan-San Remo is like a world championship for sprinters and he won that.”

ONE Pro Cycling CEO and former England cricketer Matt Prior said: “Gossy has been a huge asset to the team this year and it has been an absolute pleasure to work with him. People will always look at pro sportsmen’s results on the bike or field of play but it is what they give behind the scenes that can be just as valuable. Matt has been a fantastic leader of our team culture and an important mentor to a number of our riders.”

Goss said his wife Sarah and their daughter, Zuri, who was born in April 2014, had been “awesome” in dealing with the jet-setting lifestyle of a pro cyclist. 

“While I’m still relatively young I’m looking forward to the next chapter in my life and I can take some great memories with me like winning Milan-San Remo and standing on the top step of the Tour de France podium with some great team mates after winning the team time trial in Nice, all in front of family and friends.”

Reflecting on his decision with cyclingtips.com​,  the 2011 Tasmanian athlete of the year said it was something he had been thinking about for a while.

“It’s been on my mind. I had made my decision before now but it’s good to finally get it out there and make it public.

“I guess the right way to put it is that I did fall out of love a little bit. I am still definitely passionate about the sport. I still watch everything on TV but every time you put on your bike kit and sit on the start line, you don’t get the butterflies and stuff like you used to.

“I think at the end I realised that it was just me that has changed and that I want to look forward to different challenges in my life.”

Goss joined O’Grady at Team CSC from 2007-09, enjoyed his best years alongside the likes of Mark Cavendish at HTC-Columbia from 2010-11 before joining fledgling Australian team GreenEDGE from 2012-14 followed by year-long stints at MTN-Qhubeka (2015) and ONE Pro Cycling.

On the track he won the madison and team pursuit junior world titles in 2004, adding senior team pursuit gold a couple of years later. 

The road inevitably beckoned and he soon claimed classic podium finishes in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, Gent-Wevelgem and winning Paris-Brussels.

Stage wins came in the Giro d’Italia (2010 and ’12), Vuelta a Espana (2010), Tour de France (2013), GP Plouay, Paris-Nice, Tour of Britain, Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour Down Under, Tour of Oman, Tour of California and the Philadelphia International around his 2011 world championship silver medal in Copenhagen.