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.

Women's elite road race

In the women's race Canberra's Chloe Hosking enjoyed a promising world championship debut with sixth place in the elite women's road race on Saturday.

The 20 year old mixed it up with her more experienced rivals in the bunch sprint to decide the title but it was defending champion Giorgia Bronzini of Italy who triumphed on the uphill drag to the line.

She completed the 140 kilometre course in a time of 3:21:28 to edge out Marianne Vos (NED) who won in 2006 but since then has been a perennial bridesmaid with five straight silver medals. Germany's Ina Teutenberg was third.

Hosking, who rides with pro team HTC - Highroad, says she's happy with her result and that she managed to avoid crashing during the perilous last lap.

"I was just hoping to stay upright. There were crashes left, right an centre coming down the back straight," said Hosking. "It was fast and it was dodgy but I came away with a sixth at my first world championships so I'm happy."

As has been the case with the previous races the medals have been decided in a frantic dash to the line.

"I was hoping that on that last little kick up it would break into a smaller group but it didn't and I think, you've seen in the last few races it's such a fast course. To stay away is not so easy," said Hosking. "We never wanted to do a lead out train it was more of a sit in, protect yourself and if the girls could, if they still had it in their legs, fire missiles and see if they it would string it out.

Cycling Australian women's road coach, Martin Barras, says the team performance augers well for next year.

"When you look at where our team has been that is our best result for the last few years," said Barras. "I am not going to go and get overly excited with a sixth place, (but) the fact is it comes from a young girl it is a step in the right direction especially heading into the Olympics."

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

Cycling Australia