Paris-Nice: Goss Breaks Through!

Matt Goss has gone from a relative unknown to a world class sprinter in a matter of months, and he just keeps getting better! Gossy took what may have been the biggest win of his season so far (and maybe even career) on Tuesday when he outsprinted Heinrich Haussler to the line for the stage 3 victory.

And not only that! He also gets to wear the yellow jersey tomorrow. The time bonus given to the stage winner gave him enough to hop over De Gendt (who finished in the peloton without any bonuses) and he becomes the overall race leader. De Gendt hangs on to 2nd, while today's runner up Haussler got enough of a bonus to climb into 3rd while Greg Henderson slipped to 4th.

Denis Galimzyanov is now 5th, and I really can't say enough about this guy. He is hanging right in there with the top sprinters and he is doing it without much of a leadout from his Katusha team. The quality of young sprinters has spiked up so much this year with the arrival of guys like Galimzyanov, Matthews, Degenkolb, Phinney...(I can keep going)

There really isn't much to say about the overall day. There was an early break as usual, and they were caught as usual. The only real surprise is that every one of the sprinters made it over that cat 2 climb before the run into the finish.

But it was a different story when they got there.
As has been the par for this year's Paris-Nice, there had to be chaos sometime. It came with just under 350 meters to go when Peter Sagan lost control of his back wheel and was sent hurdling to the ground and his bike flying in the air.

Many of the main riders were able to dodge the accident, but Nicolas Maes (who is a fairly good sprinter himself) from QuickStep was right in the path of danger and also took a hard lick when he collided with Sagan. Jurgen Roelandts was also involved.

Not only did this impact Sagan's chances at today's sprint, but it may have an effect on his chances of winning the overall title. He looked pretty sore when he was walking his bike across the line after the race, but the word is that he has no serious injuries and should be able to continue. Still, those injuries may play a role in his abilities when the race moves into the mountains tomorrow.

Maes looked to be in the worse shape of everybody, and it has not been decided whether or not he will be able to continue. Roelandts appears good to go.

The crash may have actually helped out Goss. Sky seemed to have things set up well for another sprint from Henderson, but the crash disrupted Henderson's leadout man Geraint Thomas and they were forced to change their line. Meanwhile while many of the other riders were swerving out of the way it left the door open for Goss to move himself into prime sprinting position for the finish.

Goss is certainly deserving of a Grand Tour spot based on his performance up to now, but it's hard to see HTC breaking up the Cav-Renshaw duo (who are scheduled to race all 3). It's still a long way off, but Goss is certainly making a case for himself.
Stage Results
1. Matt Goss
2. Heinrich Haussler
3. Denis Galimzyanov

Results
1. Matt Goss
2. Thomas De Gendt -2
3. Heinrich Haussler -6
4. Greg Henderson
5. Denis Galimzyanov -8
6. Jeremy Roy -9
7. Tony Gallopin -10
8. Cyril Gautier -11
9. Cedric Pineau
10. Jens Voigt -14
20. Geraint Thomas -16
28. Roman Kreuzinger
31. Tony Martin
35. Jurgen Van Den Broeck
37. Richie Porte
40. Peter Sagan
43. Janez Brajkovic
61. Tejay Van Garderen
72. Luis Leon Sanchez
75. Alexandre Vinokourov
77. Bradley Wiggins
78. Samuel Sanchez
90. Ryder Hesjedal
122. Frank Schleck
149. Ivan Gutierrez -6:36

Points
Greg Henderson- 60

KOM
Jussi Veikkanen- 7

Teams
Vacansoleil-DCM

Stage 4
The first of the mountain stages. You can't win the race on this one, but you can lose it. I'd watch for Vinkourov and Van Den Broeck to make their moves.