Tasmanian Matthew Goss was a mere three hundredths of a second off a gold medal at the 2011 UCI Road World Championships in Denmark today with Great Britain's Mark Cavendish (GBR) shading him on the line at the end of the 266km elite men's road race.

Germany's Andre Greipel, was third in a photo finish over Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara.

Today's result is the third straight year Australia has placed on the podium in the elite men's event with Cadel Evans winning in 2009 and Allan Davis coming third last year in Geelong. But the win by Cavendish meant Great Britain ( 2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze) pipped Australia (2 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze) to top the medal table. France (2 gold and 1 silver) was ranked third and Germany fourth (2 gold and 3 bronze).

"I don't like being the bridesmaid! I would much rather be wearing that jersey there," said Goss pointing to the world champion's jersey worn by Cavendish, who is his team mate at HTC-Highroad. "I am disappointed I am not wearing that jersey (but) I am happy I have finished the season well.

"I have another 10 or 12 world championships in me. This course suited me quite well but I can also get around a slightly harder course as well and sprint from a smaller group so I am going to have more chances.

Goss had a far from ideal preparation for the championships with illness forcing him to pull out of the recent Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain). To compensate he raced a couple of shorter races and put in a block of solid training. The revised plan did the job and with one hundred kilometres to go Goss told his team mates he was in form and they backed him for the finish.

Meantime the British team rode for Cavendish and as the race turned into the home straight for the last time it was Australia versus Great Britain with the rest of the field racing for third. When Cavendish unleashed his sprint 200 metres from home Goss hesitated and thinks that might have been the difference between gold and silver.

"When he (Cavendish) went, I kind of jumped on the wheel. I knew it was still a long way to the finish line and I had in the back of my mind I could get back if everything went well, but in the the end I ran out of metres," said the 24 year old who will ride with the new Australian GreenEDGE team from next year.

"He did a perfect sprint. He was just starting to slow and I was finishing a bit faster but there's not a medal for that," said Goss. "His team rode well and so did the Aussie guys, they rode like a seasoned professional team - it was incredible.

"The team did everything for me. Big hats off to those guys, I wasn't far away from finishing off the job."

The race began in central Copenhagen with a six kiometre neutralised section and 22 kiometres of racing to Rudersdal for 17 laps of a 14 kilometre circuit. An estimated 250,000 spectators lined the circuit enjoying unseasonally warm temperatures and sunshine.

"It was very fast. Really quick that's for sure right from the start to the end a really fast circuit that worked in our favour cause if you can ride good position you can save a lot of energy and that's what we managed to do," said Goss of the race that set an average speed of 46 kilometres an hour.

Victorian Simon Clarke joined a break midway through the race which was the ideal situation for the Australians and put the pressure on Great Britain and Germany.

"The harder the race the better for me and (the attacks) made it better for me," said Goss. "Simon Clarke did a great job in the break so we could just sit in the bunch."
A crash with four laps ended the hopes of several contenders including defending champion Thor Hushovd of Norway. But all nine Australians were riding towards the front and escaped unharmed as did the British riders.

Australian Medal Table

Gold
• Jessica Allen - Junior women's time trial
• Luke Durbridge - U23 men's time trial
Silver
• Matthew Goss - Elite men's road race
Bronze
• Michael Hepburn - U23 time trial
• David Edwards - Junior men's road race

Australian Cyclones - 2011 UCI Road World Championships

(TT - Time Trial, RR - Road Race)
Elite Men
6. Jack BOBRIDGE (Evaston Park SA, 13.07.1989 / Garmin Cervelo) TT
7. Simon CLARKE (Selby, VIC 18.07.1986 / Astana) RR
8. Baden COOKE (Benalla, VIC 10.12.1978 / Saxo Bank) RR
9. Simon GERRANS (Jamieson, VIC 16.05.1980 / Team Sky) RR
10. Matthew GOSS (Cressy, TAS 05.11.1986 / HTC Highroad) RR
11. Heinrich HAUSSLER (Inverell, NSW 25.02.1984 / Garmin Cervelo) RR
12. Mathew HAYMAN (Araluen, NSW 20.04.1978 / Team Sky) RR
13. Stuart O'GRADY OAM (Unley Park, SA 06.08.1973 / Leopard Trek) RR
14. Richie PORTE (Hadspen, TAS 30.01.1985 / Saxo Bank) TT
15. Michael ROGERS (Garren, ACT 20.12.1979 / Team Sky) RR
16. Chris SUTTON (Sylvania, NSW 10.09.1984 / Team Sky) RR

Elite Women
17. Shara GILLOW - (Belli Park, QLD 23.12.1987 / Team Jayco AIS) (Oceania RR & TT Champion) RR & TT
18. Rochelle GILMORE (Stanwell Tops, NSW 14.12.1981 / Lotto Honda) RR
19. Taryn HEATHER (Mildura, VIC 31.08.1982) TT
20. Chloe HOSKING (Campbell, ACT 01.10.1990 / HTC Columbia) RR
21. Jessie MACLEAN (Campbell, ACT 17.10.1985 / Verducci Breakaway) RR
22. Carla RYAN (Teneriffe, QLD 21.09.1985 / Garmin Cervelo) RR
23. Amanda SPRATT (Springwood, NSW 17.09.1987 / Team Jayco AIS) RR
24. Vicki WHITELAW (Dunlop, ACT 02.01.1977 / Lotto Honda) RR

U23 Men
25. Rohan DENNIS (Vale Park, SA 28.05.1990 / Rabobank) RR
26. Luke DURBRIDGE (Bassendean, WA 09.04.1991 / Team Jayco AIS) (Australian U23 TT Champion) RR & TT
27. Michael HEPBURN ( Brookfield, QLD 17.08.1991 / Team Jayco AIS) RR & TT
28. Damien HOWSON ( Adelaide, SA 13.08.1992 / Team Jayco AIS) (Oceania TT Champion) TT (RR Reserve)
29. Richard LANG (Sydney, NSW 23.02.1989 / Team Jayco AIS) RR (Oceania RR Champion)
30. Jay McCARTHY (Brisbane, QLD 08.09.1992 / Team Jayco AIS) RR
31. Thomas PALMER (Duffy, ACT 28.06.1990 / Drapac Cycling) RR

Junior Men
32. Alexander EDMONDSON (Stirling, SA 22.12.1993)
33. David EDWARDS (Cleveland QLD, 21.04.1993)
34. Jackson LAW (Balgownie, NSW 02.02.1993)
35. Bradley LINFIELD (Dalyellup WA, 29.06.1994)
36. Nicholas SCHULTZ (Arana Hills QLD, 13.09.1994)
37. Calvin WATSON (Frankston VIC, 06.01.1993)

Junior Women
38. Jessica ALLEN (Doubleview WA, 17.04.1993)
39. Jessica MUNDY (Ashton SA, 25.09.1994)
40. Allison RICE (Ainslie ACT, 24.03.1994)

Places Qualified
The UCI has confirmed Australia has qualified the following maximum number of places for the Championships:
o Elite Men - nine riders for road race and two for time trial
o Elite Women - six riders for road race and two for time trial plus Oceania Champion in each event if selected
o U23 Men - five for road race and two for time trial plus Oceania Champion in each event if selected
o Junior Men - six for road race and two for time trial plus Oceania Champion in each event if selected
o Junior Women - four for road race and two for time trial plus Oceania Champion in each event if selected