HTC-Highroad’s Matthew Goss has thrown down the gauntlet to fellow Australian Cameron Meyer as the pair prepare to duel for the Tour Down Under title on today’s sixth and final stage.
Spaniard Francisco Ventoso (Movistar) claimed a deserved win yesterday when he beat Aussie Michael Matthews (Rabobank) by a centimeter at the end of the 131.8km race from McLaren Vale to Willunga.
However, the real battle erupted only meters behind them with Goss finishing third to grapple four bonus seconds to cut his deficit to eight seconds and move up to second overall.
Photo: EPA
Meyer, who finished 13th, retained the race leader’s ochre jersey.
However, today’s final stage is a sprinter-friendly 90km street race that offers 16 seconds in bonuses, three at each intermediate sprint and 10 at the finish.
Meyer is not a sprinter, giving Goss — who won stage one and the pre-race criterium thanks to winning sprints — some quiet belief he can turn it around.
Photo: EPA
“I still got a few seconds back on Cam, so the gap is less tomorrow,” Goss said. “There are 16 seconds of [sprint] bonuses tomorrow, so it’s still doable.”
On what was billed as the race’s decisive stage, Meyer was buoyed early on after an eight-man breakaway collected all the intermediate bonus seconds on offer.
By the time the leaders had begun the first of two climbs over Willunga Hill, a seven-man counter attacking group that contained American Lance Armstrong (RadioShack) had closed the gap.
Photo: AFP
Armstrong will end his road racing career in Adelaide today, however the American failed to produce the kind of fireworks the thousands of roadside fans have grown used to during his years of dominating the Tour de France.
Instead, his group was reeled in on the long descent into Willunga and Ben Hermans (RadioShack), Richie Porte (Saxo Bank) and Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Cervelo) went off the front on the final ascent.
However, the trio failed to distance the field and were engulfed after Goss’ Kiwi teammate Hayden Roulston turned on the turbos at the head of an 18-man chase.
It left a 15-man bunch driving downhill toward the finish line, where Ventoso dropped down a gear and drove hard to beat Matthews by the slimmest of margins.
He handed Movistar — who have picked up the remnants of the now-defunct Caisse d’Epargne team — their first win of the season.
“Sprints are always difficult to negotiate, but Francisco went at the right time and played his hand perfectly,” Movistar team director Jose-Luis Arrieta said.
Matthews, who moved up to fourth overall, is also a threat today if he can recover from his efforts.
“I’ll have a go, but I’ll definitely be a bit tired tomorrow after today’s stage,” Matthews said.
Meyer now needs to make sure his team cover all the bases and get as many allies as possible in the peloton to prevent Goss and any other close challengers from collecting bonus seconds today.
“Obviously Goss picked up a few seconds, he closed the gap as did Michael Matthews, but at the end of the day the job was not to let them get the full 12 seconds back,” Meyer said. “It was well done, I have my fingers crossed.”
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