Matthew Goss wins 2011 Milan-San Remo on new Venge bike designed in a cooperation between Specialized and McLaren engineers.

Today, Matt Goss of Team HTC-HighRoad took full advantage of his talent and experience as pro rider - and of his Specialized S-Works+McLaren Venge, a brand new bike that made its race debut today.

The Specialized+McLaren Verge celebrated its global launch at the fabled McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, UK on Thursday, just 48 hours before the Milano-San Remo classic started.

"I could not have dreamed of a better race today," Matthew Goss said after the race and he added "To be on the top step, ahead of Cancellara and Gilbert is amazing." (Located in the US? Watch Matthew Goss win the 2011 Milano-San Remo race on his new Specialized McLaren Venge bike in our Roadcycling.com video section).

Goss became the first Australian to win Milano-San Remo. He responded to attacks in the closing kilometers and won a sprint to the finish line ahead of Fabian Cancellara (Team Leopard-Trek) and Philippe Gilbert (Team Omega Pharma-Lotto).

For Specialized and McLaren engineers, the day had special significance. The new S-Works + McLaren Venge that Goss rode to victory was the bike they had collaborated together on over the past year.

The unique development partnership between Specialized and McLaren brought the advanced materials and carbon layup design that McLaren has employed in their F1-winning race cars into the world of race bikes. To have proved the racing quality of their creation on it's first day of competition, particularly at such a challenging and iconic classic race, was cause for shared celebration.

Specialized S-Works + McLaren Venge bicycle. Photo copyright Roadcycling.com

The first carbon road race bike from Specialized with an aerodynamic design, the S-Works Venge was the brainchild of Chris D'Aluisio and the Specialized engineering team. Having identified a void in their line of road bike offerings - not least when compared to competitors such as Cervelo, which has designed the famous S3 aerodynamic road bike - the Specialized designers and engineers wanted to fill this void in their line of road bikes by designing a non-TT road bike, which would be as aerodynamic as possible. However, they were not willing to make the traditional sacrifices to stiffness and weight, which they believe that aero road bikes have historically made.

After over four years of development, testing and over twenty trips to various wind tunnels, the S-Works Venge is the first Specialized bike to achieve the winning formula of weight, stiffness and aerodynamics.

This design was then refined further through the McLaren partnership. In working with McLaren engineers, the S-Works+McLaren Venge maintained identical aerodynamics and stiffness, yet achieved an even lighter weight through its extremely advanced carbon layup design.

For more information about the Specialized Venge visit venge.specialized.com