Goss grabs opening honours in Cancer Council Classic

A crash on the final lap cruelled the chances of some but Goss, 24, surged clear to sprint home ahead of team mate Mark Renshaw to give HTC High-Road the quinella.

Queensland's Robbie McEwen (Team RadioShack) came home in third place for an Australian clean sweep of the podium and a spectacular start to the week of racing in South Australia.

"It was a perfect night with the crowd huge as usual, a great atmosphere," said Goss, "It's a great start to the Tour Down Under and we could not hope for anything more than this."

While Goss was celebrating his win he was also thinking of those Australians who have been hard hit by the flood crisis.

"It’s not just Tasmania, everywhere is just flooded, that’s why all the riders have come together here and donated all the prize money we’ve got for tonight," said Goss. "All the wishes to those guys.”

The Classic is a prelude to this week's Santos Tour Down Under with the international peloton donating the prize money from tonight's race (€12,000 / approx AUD16,000) to the Flood Relief Appeal. In addition the 19 teams competing have each donated a signed team jersey for auction on eBay. Fans are urged to bid on www.ebay.com.au(http://shop.ebay.com.au/indemand_causes/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25) or to donate direct to the Flood Relief Appeal at http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html.

Tonight's race saw 132 riders contest 30 laps of the 1.7km circuit in perfect racing conditions.

The star studded line up included seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong (Team Radioshack), two-time winner and defending champion Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) of Germany, Britain's Mark Cavendish (HTC- Highroad) who has fifteen Tour de France stage wins to his credit and 2008 World Champion Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing).

A breakaway by five riders on the second lap, including West Australia's Luke Durbridge (UniSA-Australia), set the early tone and although they gained a lead of almost 30 seconds at the mid-point, the peloton reeled them in with five laps to go.

Over the final few laps, the sprinter's trains of HTC-Highroad, Omega Pharma-Lotto, Team Radioshack and SKY were controlling the race but a crash on the second last corner brought down last year's winner Greg Henderson (SKY) and caused chaos in the bunch. It also put paid to the chances of pre race favourites Cavendish and Greipel.

Instead Renshaw, one of the world's best lead out men, lead the charge to set up Goss for the win.

"Mark (Renshaw) did a perfect job, (the) incident at the second last corner caused a bit of chaos, but we managed to miss that and get the win," said Goss.

"We did a fair bit of work during the race but we managed to finish it off (and) Hayden Roulston did a great job down the back straight to keep us on the same level as Sky coming into the last corner.

"In the last 50 metres I was pretty confident, Mark was just winding it up by that point and I just had to follow and it worked perfectly. I just got to do the last few metres so I have the easy," Goss added.

With Goss' team mate Cavendish one of the favourites to take overall honours for this week's Santos Tour Down Under , Goss was looking forward to the week ahead.

"With the guys we've got in front of me here as well, we have enough power to turn the earth off the axis I reckon," he added.

McEwen, who won the Classic in 2006, says he was happy with a third place finish after almost crashing late in the race.

"I made quite a few accelerations on my own trying to position myself among the first ten constantly, as it's the place to stay out of trouble," he explained.

"Basically having been in the crash without falling and to come back and pass everybody, cross the gap to the first four and finish third is pretty decent, so I'm optimistic," said McEwen, of his chances of a stage win this week.

During the Cancer Council Classic the riders contested four intermediate sprints. The Skoda Sprint on lap 5 was won by Luke Durbridge (UniSA - Australia); Spain's Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel - Euskadi) won the lap 10 Hindmarsh Sprint, Martin Mortensen of Team Leopard-Trek won the Cycle Instead sprint on lap 15 and Izagirre was again the winner for the Jayco Sprint at the end of lap 20.

The 2011 Santos Tour Down Under gets underway on Tuesday with a 138km stage from Mawson Lakes to Angaston.

Flood Relief Support: The 133 riders competing in the 2011 Santos Tour Down Under have come together to support those affected by the devastating Queensland floods with all prize money from tonight's Cancer Council Classic, (€12,000 / approx AUD16,000) being donated to the Flood Relief Appeal.

In addition to the prize money donation, all 19 teams have donated a signed team jersey for auction on eBay. Fans are urged to bid on www.ebay.com.au (http://shop.ebay.com.au/indemand_causes/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25) or to donate direct to the Flood Relief Appeal at http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html