Matt Goss motivated to ride for MTN-Qhubeka

MTN-Qhubeka has made a strong first impression on 2011 Milan-San Remo champion Matt Goss, who is motivated to compete for the burgeoning Pro Continental squad next season.

The 28-year-old marked one of his last races in Orica-GreenEDGE colours at the Stan Siejka Launceston Classic, the start some 500m from his Australia home, on Sunday following a team camp with his new South Africa-based outfit.

“I flew back from Europe to Australia and then turned around five days later and went to the training camp in Africa,” Goss told Cycling Weekly.

“The camp was good. I was really impressed actually with the way the team is set-up. Their medical and physiology, sports science and sports medicine is second to no team I’ve been with in the past.”

>>> MTN-Qhubeka assembles strong team with 2015 Tour de France in mind

The sentiment is a complementary statement when you consider Goss’s previous career teams include the ever successful Saxo Bank and HTC-Highroad, as well as Orica-GreenEDGE.

MTN-Qhubeka, under interim general manager Brian Smith, has intelligently recruited experienced WorldTour riders including Goss and Edvald Boasson Hagen, who could both reap from a fresh start. Their presence could also boost the outfit’s chances of scoring a wildcard to the Tour de France next year.

“There’s a few of us that are going to race together quite often but I don’t know the exact make-up of the team at the moment,”  Goss added.  “It’s something we’ll find out over the next few months. As we learn what races we get to go to we’ll find out who races with each other a lot more.

“I think we’ll do a lot of the races we want to do and you’ll see a strong bunch of guys, not only the classics and sprint guys but the Africans they have there for the GC races.”

The dual Giro d’Italia stage winner Goss was sporting a somewhat unkempt beard but said he would shave before pulling on his new team’s Newcastle United-esque kit.

“I don’t want to scare everyone!” he said.