Matthew Goss wins Milan-San Remo race

Goss has enjoyed a successful season so far

Australian Matthew Goss recorded the biggest win of his career with victory at the head of an eight-rider group in the Milan-San Remo race.

The HTC-Highroad rider, a team-mate of Mark Cavendish, proved too strong for the 2008 winner Fabian Cancellara and Philippe Gilbert.

Goss was second overall in the Tour Down Under and also took stage wins in the Tour of Oman and Paris-Nice.

Cavendish's chances disappeared when he lost touch about 15km from the end.

The group including Goss had pulled clear with about two kilometres remaining in the longest single-day race on the calendar (298km/161 miles) as Cancellara led the charge to reel in BMC's Greg Van Avermaet.

The first rider to break on the home straight was Lampre's Michele Scarponi but nobody could live with the finishing pace of Goss.

With 300m of the race remaining Scarponi made his move but Goss timed his sprint right to triumph.

Cavendish and Britons Geraint Thomas and Bradley Wiggins finished over five minutes behind Goss.

The Milan-San Remo is the first Spring Classic of the season, with six more races taking place over March and April in Belgium, France and Netherlands, culminating in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege event on 24 April.

The races also offer British cyclists the chance to secure vital points in their attempts to qualify riders for the World Championships in Copenhagen in September.