Matt Goss won the points jersey after finishing fourth in the final stage at the Tour of Britain on Sunday. Goss won a stage and claimed four other top-four placings in the sprints. The team’s new stagiaire, Jonathan Bellis, finished 12th overall in a promising result for the young British rider. Frenchman Geoffroy Lequarte took overall victory. 

Team CSC-Saxo Bank’s Matt Goss sprinted to second in Thursday’s fifth stage at the Tour of Britain, finishing just behind winner Edvald Boasson Hagen. With his strong result, that goes with a victory in the second stage, Goss takes over the points jersey in the eight-day British tour. 

Anders Lund was a part of the decisive breakaway in stage three of the Tour of Britain, but he crashed out of the escape. Jonathan Bellis was also a part of the breakaway, but he couldn’t prevent Agritubel’s Stéphane Bergès from taking both the stage victory and the leader’s jersey.

It’s called the “Silly Season” for good reason. Riders take the late summer and early fall to change teams, extend contracts and otherwise look for rides to keep them in “the game.” This year has already seen plenty of big stars changing teams and looking for new opportunities, led by none other than longtime CSC-Saxo Bank captain Carlos Sastre, who announced last week his intention of joining a new team in 2009. CSC-Saxo Bank will lose another big name with Swedish time trial expert Gustav Larsson taking an offer from the Spanish team, Caisse d’Epargne.

Team CSC-Saxo Bank team manager Bjarne Riis said, “it’s part of the business. Riders leave teams and switch teams all the time. Everyone has to go with what’s right for them. Sure, it’s tough to lose Carlos, but we have other riders to build the team. We have the Schleck brothers and Cancellara and some younger riders who are coming up that we are developing. We’re not worried.” Riis also said he doesn’t expect to make any big signings ahead of the 2009 season, which, being the “silly season,” might not mean much right now! So keep your ears peeled.

Try as they might, with nearly half the team attacking at Sunday’s Vattenfall Cyclassics in Germany, it was a bunch sprint in the one-day classic.

Robbie McEwen led an all-Australian sweep of the podium after out-kicking compatriots to win his first classic of his career. Marcus Ljungqvist led for the team in 17th.

“It was fast from the start and I think the average speed for the race was 46kph,” said sport director Kim Andersen. “We were on the attack, but we didn’t come with a pure sprinter, so in the end, victory wasn’t possible. We had Lars (Bak), (Gustav) Larsson and Marcus Ljungqvist in the front group.”