Following a disappointing season that only brought in one win, Matthew Goss is hoping to return to top form in 2014. Realizing that he will never be able to match the fastest sprinters in the pure bunch kicks, Orica-GreenEDGE sports director Matthew White is hoping that his marquee sprinter will be able to challenge Peter Sagan in 2014.

After a fantastic 2011 season that had seen him win 5 races and take a memorable win in the Milan-Sanremo as well as a second place at the world championships, Matthew Goss signed a contract with Orica-GreenEDGE as one of the world's leading sprinters. Two years later he has mostly disappeared from the sprinting spotlight following two disappointing seasons that have only brought in a stage in the Giro d'Italia and the Tirreno-Adriatico.

While the 2012 season was solid yet unspectacular, his 2013 season was a disaster. After winning a stage in the Tirreno at the start of the year, he disappeared completely from the radar and failed to make an impact in both the Giro and the Tour.

His Orica-GreenEDGE team is still confident that their sprinter can return to the level that saw him being marked out as one of the greatest sprinters. It will be through a different approach though as the team has realized that he will never be able to challenge the world's fastest sprinters in the real bunch sprints.

Hence, the team has changed his schedule for the 2014 season, putting less emphasis on the grand tours and more on the one-day races.

“He won’t be doing the Giro next year, his preparation will be a little different," sports director Matt White told Cyclingnews. "With Goss at his best he should be going head-to-head against Peter Sagan. He’s not the pure sprinter like Cavendish, Kittel and Greipel and nine times out of ten in a flat sprint he’s going to come up short against those guys. If Goss is on top form though he should be targeting the same stages as Sagan.”

While stating that Goss struggled with injury and illness, White admits that his health issues cannot completely explain his difficulties. Nonetheless, he remains convinced that his marquee sprinter is still abel to win some of the biggest races in the world.

“I think he can get back to his top level," he said. "Goss isn’t going to provide you with 15 wins a year. He’s not that kind of rider. He’s a guy, who on his day, who can win big bike races and he’s proven that. He has the ability to win three or big races a year but in the last couple of years he’s had a lot of second places. Next year we expect big wins from him.” 

While the past two seasons have been disappointing, Goss has taken wins every year since his professional debut in 2007.