In the past Matthew Goss has often had one of the strongest lead-out trains at his disposal but after a couple of disappoining seasons, things have changed for the Australian. In this year's Tour de Suisse, he only has two riders for the lead-out and this left him with few options in today's first sprint.

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) took a commanding victory on the fourth stage of the Tour de Suisse. Patience paid for the Manx Missle who was one of the last amongst the sprinters to unleash his kick to the line. Juan José Lobato (Movistar) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale) slotted into lessor stage podium positions as ORICA-GreenEDGE's Matt Goss rounded out the top ten.

It was a fairly straightforward day until the chaotic sprint. A crash in the neutral zone briefly delayed the race start and forced Daniele Ratto (Cannondale) and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Belisol) out of the race. When the action began in earnest, Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka) and Laurens De Vreese (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) slipped up the road. The duo built up a four minute advantage before the peloton gave chase.

“We didn’t commit to anything today,” said Sport Director Neil Stephens. “The other sprint teams did a great job to control. It was a relatively easy day in the bunch for us. We let other teams do the work and lent a hand to Gossy in the finish.”

Ten kilometres from the line, the leading duo had returned to the bunch, and the peloton readied for the inevitable bunch sprint. Giant-Shimano, Cannondale and Omega Pharma – Quick-Step devoted full trains to the task at hand.

“We only had Sam Bewley and Maty Hayman,” said Stephens. “As I explained before the start of the race, our focus here isn’t on the sprint. Sam and Mat put Gossy in a good position to sprint going into the final kilometre. They placed him well. There was a lot of pushing and shoving behind Cav, and Gossy was mixed up in that. He started his sprint from about tenth back and that’s where he ended up.”