It was borne out by Richie Porte’s tribute to his fellow Launceston WorldTour graduate: “I don’t think Tasmania understands what Matt Goss has done.”

The likes of Goss and Porte would both expect to be recognised when they leave their homes in Monaco but could largely walk through the town of their birth in relative anonymity - save for the personal acquaintances guaranteed by the one-degree-of-separation edict they make you sign at Tasmanian customs.

I had a coffee with Gossy in Brisbane Street Mall during his golden year of 2011. Not only did nobody appear to recognise him but a random mall bogan launched into a drunken diatribe right next to him.

“It’s good to be home,” joked Goss, who grew up in the West Tamar but embarked on his cycling career in Europe while still a teenager.

In that continent, the biggest annual prizes are the one-day classics, primarily the five monument races, plus the world championships and Grand Tours.

In addition to winning the Milan-San Remo monument in 2011 and collecting a handful of classic podium finishes, Goss was a world champion on the track, runner-up on the road and involved in stage wins in all three Grand Tours.

Throw in the Commonwealth Games (2006) and Olympic Games (2012) and it is difficult to think of a career box that he did not tick.

A member of team time trial successes in both the Tour de France (2013) and Vuelta a Espana (2010), it was at the Giro d’Italia - the race that announced Porte to the cycling world - where Goss also savoured individual success.

He won stages in 2010 and 2012, prompting proud dad Harley to celebrate back home with a message informing his patrons at Gossy’s Food and Fuel in Cressy.

He also came within milliseconds of adding a senior road race world title, the pedigree of that race in Copenhagen demonstrated by the silver medallist being flanked by Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel.

Like so many riders before and since, Goss transcended both road and track.

Along with fellow Tasmanian Mark Jamieson, he was a member of the Australian team pursuit outfit that won a Commonwealth Games silver medal and a world championship gold in 2006.

However, his destiny was always going to be on the road and after a stint with Team CSC, on the back of Stuart O’Grady’s recommendation, Goss joined a star-studded HTC-Columbia team as part of a sensational sprint squad also including Greipel, Cavendish, Mark Renshaw, John Degenkolb and Leigh Howard.

The night Goss achieved the win that would see him crowned 2011 Tasmanian athlete of the year, I received the text message: “Goss wins Milan-San Remo! Huge!”

It was from national cycling coach and proud Tasmanian Matthew Gilmore who is well placed to judge the magnitude of the achievement given both his, and his father Graeme’s, time racing in the cycling-mad country of Belgium.

It is also worth looking at the who’s who of world cycling that Goss outsprinted that day on the Mediterranean seafront after nearly seven hours rubbing shoulders across northern Italy.

He shared the podium with Fabian Cancellara (four-time world and two-time Olympic champion) and Philippe Gilbert (world champion and 10-time classic winner) while the top 10 also included future Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali, future Olympic champ Greg Van Avermaet and Goss’s old sparring partner O’Grady who until that day was the only Australian to win a monument.

After the heyday of his Grand Tour and classic successes, Goss dropped down from World Tour to pro-continental ranks.

With knee tendonitis limiting the explosive impact that delivered his victories, his performance and passion inevitably dipped.

“I did fall out of love a little bit,” he admitted when announcing his retirement.

It is perhaps not surprising given how young his career started. He was a world champion at 19, the youngest ever Grand Tour rider at 20, won Paris-Brussels at 22, a Giro stage at 23 and a monument at 24.

Like most pro cyclists, the Goss passport would have more stamps than a philatelist convention. 

The constant lifestyle of airports and hotel rooms would take a toll on most, not least a new dad with a dicky knee and waning motivation.

Going from messing around on bmx bikes with the Sulzberger brothers in outback Flowery Gully to battling Olympic media throngs in front of Buckingham Palace in London is quite a scene change.

He plans to bookend his career back at the Launceston Classic where he effectively launched it by earning that glowing endorsement from O’Grady after exploding past him on the finish line.

Anybody who witnessed that moment in 2004 can reflect upon seeing the beginning of a career that would take in world championships, Commonwealth and Olympic Games, classics and the Tour de France.

From the Gunners Arms to Grand Tours, Cimitiere Street to the Champs Elysses, it’s been a monumental journey in every sense.