This morning (European time) the Cancer Council Classic took place as a preview on the Tour Down Under 2011 around Rymill Park in Adelaide. This criterium was won by Matt Goss of the HTC-Highroad team. Besides his lead out man Mark Renshaw, he won the sprint from Robbie McEwen who found a backup team in Radioshack after the disastrous end of the Pegasus Sports team.

3 Australian riders on the podium in Australia, that's looking good ...

The summary of the Cancer Council Classic

The Cancer Council Classic is a 51 kilometer long race, formed by 30 laps on a 1.7 kilometer long circuit (see the article The 2011 Santos Tour Down Under race route on Google Maps/Google Earth for more information).

At 4.30PM local time (7.30AM European team) the teams presentation of the teams participating in the Tour Down Under 2011 took place. Spectators came massively to this very first presentation of the most important teams in the world, as we can see on the photo of the Leopard-Trek team on the right.

At 6.45PM the start was given for the Cancer Council Classic. The 133 riders previously decided that all prize money won with this criterium (12,000 AUD in total) would be sent to the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal in order to help this region of Australia (home for riders like Robbie McEwen and Allan Davis) which has known some difficult weather conditions at the end of December/early January which led to big and devastating floods.

1 rider didn't come to the start: Tom Leezer of the Rabobank team. A bit over one hour later we saw that another rider didn't finish the race: Bernhard Eisel (HTC-Highroad)

Every 5 rounds, the riders had to sprint for an additional prime and to eventually get the jersey of best sprinter of this Cancer Council Classic. The first sprint was won by Luke Durbridge (UniSA - Australia), Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) took the 2nd and 4th sprint while the third sprint was won by Martin Mortensen of the Leopard-Trek team.

Luke Durbridge, a young Australian rider (he's only 19) who participes this week in his very first UCI WorldTour race, won the best sprinter's jersey. After the finish he declared: It was a solid ride and well done to Gossy but eh, at the end it was awesome to get an Aussie up I guess. It was an unbelievable crowd out there, biggest crowd Ive every raced in front of, so it was good to put on a show.
I think just to get out the front and show what you're made of, I think that is what you're here for. I'm glad I got to do that today. I know its still a long week, so hopefully I can get out the front more.

After 30 laps, the best sprinters were still ahead and even though for HTC-Columbia we could have expected to see Mark Cavendish upfront, Mark Renshaw this time placed Matthew Goss in a perfect position to win the final sprint. Renshaw finished second, ahead of Robbie McEwen (Team Radioshack), the less well known Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Chris Sutton for Team Sky.
André Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto), often victorious in Australia and this time free from any competition with Mark Cavendish, finished only 15th.

Greg Henderson, who won the Cancer Council Helpline Classic last year fell at the end of the race and could thus not reproduce his result from last year.

The comments from some of the riders after the Cancer Council Classic

Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad), the winner
Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad) declared after his victory: It's a great start were very happy and I think the smile showed that, so, its great for me, it's great for the team and it's a great start to the Tour Down Under.

Concerning the way the race went he added: We had it pretty under control, we kept the break at a reasonable distance and we could get them back before the finish line. Team HTC Highroad and the Omega Pharma Lotto guys did a great job keeping the race together. We were lucky enough to finish it off well.



Allan Davis (Astana)
The Australian rider of the Astana team showed he was happy to be back at the Tour Down Under: It is always a pleasure being back here racing. I treasure this race. This is my 13th time at this race and to have the highest level of professionals from road cycling here is amazing. I told the guys that to come here and race you have to be prepared. If you dont come prepared you really suffer and then you get the after effects later in the year. I told them, they have to get some base training in, this race will really put you in good stead for the rest of the season.

The video of the Cancer Council Classic

Below you can find the images of this 2011 Cancer Council Classic:

The results of the Cancer Council Classic

The general classification
The top 10 of this Cancer Council Classic which precedes the Tour Down Under 2011 is as follows:
1/ Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad) - 1h05'12"
2/ Mark Renshaw (HTC-Highroad)
3/ Robbie McEwen (Team Radioshack)
4/ Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale)
5/ Chris Sutton (Team Sky)
6/ Davide Viganò (Leopard-Trek)
7/ Ben Swift (Team Sky)
8/ José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar Team)
9/ Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Cannondale)
10/ Allan Davis (Astana)

>> Click here to see the full results

All photos in this article are © Tour Down Under - John Veage and used with permission.

door Thomas Vergouwen
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