Team HTC-HighRoad started their 2011 Santos Tour Down Under with a win in stage 1 from Mason Lakes to Angaston earlier today.

Matthew Goss came off his HTC-Highroad leadout train and the wheel of final lead out man Mark Renshaw with 250 m to go and held off his competitors in the uphill sprint to the line taking his second win this week.

Andre Greipel (Team Omega Pharma-Lotto) finished 2nd and Team RadioShack's Robbie McEwen remarkably finished 3rd in today's stage.

"Mark (Renshaw) gave me the perfect lead out once again and dropped me off at 250 meters to go," Goss commented and added "It was a long sprint up hill and I could see Andre on my wheel so I was a little worried for a moment there. But I managed to hold them off so I'm happy about that."

Now holding the ochre 2011 Tour Down Under leader's jersey after stage one, Goss hopes to keep it on his back or within his team until next Sunday.

"It's a great start for us and I'd love to be able to hold this lead for the whole week but there's a long way to go and we'll just have to see how it goes. We also have a very strong team and we have other riders who can also win here so we'll take it each day at a time and hopefully we can have the jersey at the end of the week," Goss concluded.

Lance Armstrong (Team RadioShack) finished stage 1 in 81st position.

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