GreenEDGE name Tour de France line-up

Matt Goss will spearhead a GreenEDGE team hungry for stage success in their Tour de France debut next weekend.

The Australian team have announced their nine-man roster for cycling’s greatest race which starts on Saturday with a 6.4km prologue in Liege, Belgium.

As expected, GreenEDGE will be focusing on stage victories rather than overall honours in the 3,497km race with Goss the designated leader for the sprint stages.

He will be joined by former Tour de France green jersey winner Baden Cooke, in-form Simon Gerrans, Stuart O’Grady, Brett Lancaster, Daryl Impey, Michael Albasini, Pieter Weening and Sebastian Langeveld.

“Matt Goss in an obvious focus for stage wins,” the team’s sports director Matt White said.

“We have a lot of opportunists in the team of nine.

“We’ve said from the start that the overall is not a goal.

“We’re on the hunt for stage wins, and we have a lot of winners in those eight other riders.

“They’ll have every chance to show their value and class over three weeks of racing.”

Goss showed in his stage win at the Giro d’Italia last month that he would be a threat in the sprint finishes in France.

It will be his second Tour De France after being part of the HTC-Highroad team behind Mark Cavendish’s five stage wins and sprinter’s jersey last year.

“While we have a lot of goals for Gossy in the Tour, his main objective is clear,” said White. “He is on the hunt for stage wins.”

Beyond the team’s sprint train, the team will look to Gerrans, Weening and Albasini for stage wins.

White believed Gerrans, the first Australian to win a stage at all three grand tours, had to be considered a major threat for a stage win on the back of his form this year.

“He has had a very successful year to date,” said White.

“An opportunist with a knack for winning from breaks, we’ll look to Simon on a few key stages.”

GreenEDGE team: Baden Cooke, Brett Lancaster, Daryl Impey, Matt Goss, Michael Albasini, Pieter Weening, Sebastian Langeveld, Simon Gerrans, Stuart O’Grady.

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