Matt Goss to make Tour de France debut

RISING Australian star Matt Goss will make his Tour de France debut next month in a powerful sprint pairing with British ace Mark Cavendish.

RISING Australian star Matt Goss will make his Tour de France debut next month in a powerful sprint pairing with British ace Mark Cavendish.

The HTC-Columbia team confirmed its nine-man roster for the July 2-24 race, with another Australian, Mark Renshaw, predictably picked as the main leadout rider for Cavendish in the sprint finishes.

Goss has enjoyed a breakout season, becoming the first Australian to win the Milan-San Remo one-day classic.

He also finished a narrow second to Cameron Meyer in January at Adelaide's Tour Down Under.

"We have adapted our roster to the specific stages of the 2011 course, which include classic-like stages that may deeply challenge pure sprinters, but play to the strengths of Matt Goss," team manager Ralf Aldag said in a statement.

"He has won eight races already this year including Milan-San Remo and has proven he can win on difficult finishes.

"(Matt) deserves his first start in the Tour de France and will get his chances.

"He may also be a strong contender for the Green Jersey as the race progresses."

Cavendish has won an extraordinary eight Tour stages over the last three years and he will be HTC's No 1 option for the flat stages.

"We believe he is the fastest sprinter in the world and will get the support he's used to with (Bernard) Eisel and Renshaw," Aldag said.

"We continue a winning formula."

Renshaw will want a smoother Tour than last year, when he was kicked off the race following a high-speed incident with New Zealand rider Julian Dean nearing the end of a stage.

Eisel, from Austria, will be the team captain for the Tour and Germany's Tony Martin will be its main option for an overall result.

Peter Velits (Slovakia), Dane Lars Bak and Americans Danny Pate and Tour debutant Tejay van Garderen will make up the rest of HTC's Tour team.