Goss shows his sprinting speed
By Les Clarke published
Renshaw takes second and McEwen third
HTC-Highroad demonstrated that while the two Marks - Renshaw and Cavendish - may be the squad's headline act in July, the Australian can lead out any one of the team capable of winning a sprint. And today, in the Cancer Council Helpline Classic, that man was Matt Goss.
The Tasmanian benefited from Greg Henderson's misfortune in the final corner and powered to the line ahead of Renshaw, Robbie McEwen (RadioShack) and Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale), who formed a four-man group in the final 500m due to the kiwi's crash.
Goss has been riding well recently, taking out the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic earlier this month and was pleased with the performance. "It's a great start and I'm very happy. Great for me, great for the team and a great start to the Tour Down Under," he said immediately after the win.
"We had it under control we kept the break at a reasonable distance. Our team and Omega Pharma-Lotto did a great to control the race and we were lucky to finish it of. We've got enough power (at HTC) to turn the earth off its axis."
That power consisted of riders such as Bernhard Eisel, Bert Grabsch, Danny Pate and Renshaw, whilst Mark Cavendish waited in the wings for a chance to hit out against some of the in-form fast men at the start of 2011.
And as Goss noted, André Greipel's Omega Pharma-Lotto squad did the lion's share of the work during the 51km race, taking control of proceedings and ensuring a five-man break - which became a leading trio with about 15 laps remaining - wouldn't succeed in its quest to steal the sprinters' thunder.
That escape group contained Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi), talented local Luke Durbridge (UniSA-Australia), Martin Mortensen (Leopard Trek), Markel Irizar (RadioShack) and Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Katusha), which got away during the second lap and maintained a solid advantage of 30 seconds for most of the event.
With the aforementioned loss of Mortensen and Izagirre later in the race it was time for the sprinters' teams to step up and they did, taking charge after the remnants of the break were swept up with five laps remaining. First it was Greipel's squad leading the way, then Allan Davis' Astana crew before Team Sky came to the fore en masse.
Heading into the last lap the combined strength of Team Sky flexed its muscle as the likes of Matthew Hayman, Ben Swift, Simon Gerrans, CJ Sutton and Geraint Thomas worked hard to get their man Henderson to the line in a style reminiscent of its debut appearance at the event last season. On that occasion it was a quinella, although this year's result would be vastly different given Henderson's misfortune.
"It was same scenario as last year - we wanted to wait a little longer but when the opportunity arose... You go into a race with a plan but you have to think on your feet. We made the call and we had to go - everyone did their bit but you don't always win," said Hayman afterwards.
"Hendy was behind CJ [coming into the final corner], I believe, when he went down. Maybe I went through there a bit too hot - I wanted to keep the speed because I'd already done a fairly long turn and I figured if I hit the brakes too much it was going to hurt me coming out of the corner so I wanted to hit it really hard.
Henderson avoided serious injury in the accident and will only be missing some skin off his legs when the first stage of the Santos Tour Down Under starts on Tuesday.
1 | Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad | 1:05:12 |
2 | Mark Renshaw (Aus) HTC-Highroad | |
3 | Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team RadioShack | |
4 | Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
5 | Chris Sutton (Aus) Sky Procycling | |
6 | Davide Vigano (Ita) Leopard Trek | |
7 | Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling | |
8 | Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team | |
9 | Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
10 | Allan Davis (Aus) Astana | |
11 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
12 | Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Quick Step Cycling Team | |
13 | Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Katusha Team | |
14 | Mirko Selvaggi (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
15 | Andre Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto | |
16 | Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Movistar Team | |
17 | Davide Cimolai (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | 0:00:06 |
18 | Tyler Farrar (USA) Team Garmin-Cervélo | |
19 | Romain Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:00:08 |
20 | Mitchell Docker (Aus) UNI SA - Australia | |
21 | Baden Cooke (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard | |
22 | Mathew Hayman (Aus) Sky Procycling | |
23 | Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
24 | Kristof Goddaert (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale | |
25 | Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
26 | Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
27 | Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
28 | Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana | |
29 | Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Katusha Team | |
30 | Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Katusha Team | |
31 | Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Leopard Trek | |
32 | Alexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC Racing Team | |
33 | Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) UNI SA - Australia | |
34 | Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) UNI SA - Australia | |
35 | Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Quick Step Cycling Team | |
36 | Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Movistar Team | |
37 | Manuel Cardoso (Por) Team RadioShack | |
38 | Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Movistar Team | |
39 | Alan Perez Lezaun (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
40 | John Murphy (USA) BMC Racing Team | |
41 | Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
42 | Julien Vermote (Bel) Quick Step Cycling Team | |
43 | Simone Ponzi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | 0:00:13 |
44 | Juan Jose Haedo (Arg) Saxo Bank Sungard | |
45 | Markel Irizar (Spa) Team RadioShack | |
46 | Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha Team | |
47 | Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
48 | Yuriy Krivtsov (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
49 | Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto | |
50 | William Clarke (Aus) Leopard Trek | |
51 | Gregory Rast (Swi) Team RadioShack | |
52 | Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) UNI SA - Australia | |
53 | Ivan Velasco (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
54 | Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | |
55 | Francesco Reda (Ita) Quick Step Cycling Team | |
56 | Simon Zahner (Swi) BMC Racing Team | 0:00:20 |
57 | Jos van Emden (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | 0:00:22 |
58 | Davide Malacarne (Ita) Quick Step Cycling Team | 0:00:23 |
59 | Daniel Sesma (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
60 | Miguel Minguez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
61 | Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
62 | Bert Grabsch (Ger) HTC-Highroad | |
63 | Bruno Pires (Por) Leopard Trek | |
64 | Nicki Sorensen (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard | |
65 | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
66 | Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-ISD | |
67 | Steve Houanard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
68 | Lance Armstrong (USA) Team RadioShack | |
69 | Vitaliy Buts (Ukr) Lampre-ISD | |
70 | David Tanner (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard | |
71 | Alan Marangoni (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
72 | Maxim Gourov (Kaz) Astana | |
73 | Mathieu Perget (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
74 | Kristijan Koren (Slo) Liquigas-Cannondale | |
75 | Stefan Denifl (Aut) Leopard Trek | |
76 | Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
77 | Addy Engels (Ned) Quick Step Cycling Team | |
78 | Serguei Ivanov (Rus) Katusha Team | |
79 | Alfredo Balloni (Ita) Lampre-ISD | |
80 | Aitor Perez Arrieta (Spa) Lampre-ISD | |
81 | Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre-ISD | |
82 | Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy (Kaz) Astana | |
83 | Michael Hepburn (Aus) UNI SA - Australia | |
84 | Jack Bobridge (Aus) Team Garmin-Cervélo | |
85 | Luke Roberts (Aus) UNI SA - Australia | |
86 | Ben Hermans (Bel) Team RadioShack | |
87 | David Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team | |
88 | Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
89 | Danny Pate (USA) HTC-Highroad | |
90 | Laurens ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
91 | Julian Dean (NZl) Team Garmin-Cervélo | |
92 | Juan Horrach (Spa) Katusha Team | |
93 | Simon Gerrans (Aus) Sky Procycling | |
94 | Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana | |
95 | Richie Porte (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard | |
96 | AmaÔl Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team | |
97 | Brian Vandborg (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard | |
98 | Luke Durbridge (Aus) UNI SA - Australia | |
99 | Aleksandr Kuschynski (Blr) Katusha Team | |
100 | Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | |
101 | Vicente Reynes (Spa) Omega Pharma-Lotto | |
102 | Martin Pedersen (Den) Leopard Trek | |
103 | Jose Vicente Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team | |
104 | Angel Madrazo (Spa) Movistar Team | |
105 | Dimitri Champion (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:00:30 |
106 | Robbie Hunter (RSA) Team RadioShack | |
107 | Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Procycling | |
108 | Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad | |
109 | Hayden Roulston (NZl) HTC-Highroad | |
110 | Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
111 | Travis Meyer (Aus) Team Garmin-Cervélo | |
112 | Timothy Roe (Aus) BMC Racing Team | |
113 | Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
114 | Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana | 0:00:37 |
115 | Marco Bandiera (Ita) Quick Step Cycling Team | |
116 | Cameron Meyer (Aus) Team Garmin-Cervélo | 0:00:40 |
117 | Alberto Ongarato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
118 | Martin Mortensen (Den) Leopard Trek | |
119 | Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita) Lampre-ISD | |
120 | Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre-ISD | |
121 | Coen Vermeltfoort (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
122 | Matthew Wilson (Aus) Team Garmin-Cervélo | |
123 | Brett Lancaster (Aus) Team Garmin-Cervélo | |
124 | Joost Van Leijen (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:00:44 |
125 | Sebastian Haedo (Arg) Saxo Bank Sungard | |
126 | Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | 0:00:48 |
127 | Greg Henderson (NZl) Sky Procycling | 0:01:16 |
128 | Adam Hansen (Aus) Omega Pharma-Lotto | 0:01:38 |
129 | Michael Rogers (Aus) Sky Procycling | |
130 | Simon Clarke (Aus) Astana | 0:01:42 |
131 | Cameron Wurf (Aus) Liquigas-Cannondale | 0:03:10 |
1 | Luke Durbridge (Aus) UNI SA - Australia |
1 | Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi |
1 | Martin Mortensen (Den) Leopard Trek |
1 | Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi |

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