Goss goes for gold in Angaston

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Matt Goss showed that his win in Sunday's Cancer Council Classic was no 'slip of the leadership' for HTC-Highroad but a concerted move to give the Tasmanian a shot at the Tour Down Under title, his win in Angaston today demonstrating he'll be one of the men to beat in the battle for the ochre jersey this week.

Goss outsprinted former teammate André Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and fellow Australian Robbie McEwen (RadioShack) at the end of the 138km journey from Mawson Lakes to the heart of the Barossa Valley to secure the overall lead after an opening day that quelled speculation whether Mark Cavendish could be HTC-Highroad's protected rider.

"I saw Greipel behind me just as I strated to sprint but I wasn't paying too much attention to that as I was just doing my own race so it worked out well," said Goss afterwards.

"It's one thing to win but when you're expected to win there's a lot more pressure on yourself. I'm really happy to get the win today for both me and the team, the rode all day. That's for them."

And it was Goss' team that demonstrated it was one of the strongest - if not the strongest - squad out there all day. The first overall leader of this year's Santos Tour Down Under said that he may have had a few doubts about their ability to finish off the good work heading into the finale, however.

"I kinda had my worries. Renshaw did a great job and he got me to about 250m to go but it was slightly uphill and it was a tough finish but I managed to hold up until the end," said Goss. "Cav was on my wheel as we were starting to sprint but to be honest I don't have eyes in the back of my head so I couldn't see where I was.

"We had a plan at the start of the day and that plan was that Cav was going to be on my wheel and we'd see what happened. If I could win I'd take it and if he could come past he'd come past. If he finished second he could and put more of a gap between us and the other riders in the GC so we had all bases covered, I think."

Band of Five play out time

The day was punctuated by a break of five riders, as Simon Clarke (Astana), Mathieu Perget (Ag2R-La Mondiale), Mitchell Docker (UniSA-Australia), Miguel Minguez and Jon Izaguirre (both Euskaltel-Euskadi) got away following the KOM on Black Top Road and spent most of the day off the front of the field, with Clarke netting the most aggressive rider prize for his efforts.

He was the last to succumb to the peloton's clutches in the final 20km, as the likes of HTC-Highroad, Team Sky, Garmin-Cervélo and Omega Pharma-Lotto came to the fore in an effort to deliver their men to the pointy end of the stage in the perfect position.

And it was Allan Peiper's men who achieved that best, as much like Sunday evening's criterium in Adelaide's east end, Mark Renshaw was the man to guide his team's push for the line over the closing kilometres.

"It was a bit of a drag race between us and Sky with a kilometre to go. As always, Renshaw did a perfect job although he had to go a lot earlier than what he would usually do and he just wound it up perfectly. I probably got the front a little bit early too but I managed to hold on so I'm happy," explained Goss.

As for the plight of Team Sky's riders, Greg Henderson admitted to suffering the effects of a crash in the finale of Sunday's Cancer Council Criterium while the squad's best-placed man was Chris Sutton in fourth. There was an element of confusion after Michael Rogers suffered a mechanical late in the stage and it didn't get any better after that point.

"I wasn't feeling 100 percent today," said Henderson. "I think all the bruising from my crash on Sunday night is starting to come out. I was so sore today and it was uncomfortable all day.

"We lost each other at one kilometre to go - the whole train sort of derailed. When G [Gerrans] went, it was at the right time for him but there was only me left. I had to try and fight my way into the line somewhere, it left me out in the wind.

"When the sprint starts you are already full of lactic acid and I couldn't even go. It wasn't ideal but it's what happens," he continued, adding that he's not ruling himself out of contention for overall honours.

"That crash the other night really took the edge off me but as the week progresses I think I will get better and better - once all this bruising comes out. Hopefully."

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