Ventoso sprints to victory in penultimate Tour Down Under stage

SPAIN'S Francisco Ventoso used his pedal power to clinch victory in the penultimate stage of the Tour Down Under in Adelaide.

The 28-year-old Movistar rider outsprinted Australians Matt Goss and Michael Matthews for victory in the 131km course from McLaren Vale to Willunga, crossing the line in 3:03.10 hours.

Goss took second place to close the gap in the general classification to just eight seconds with race leader Cameron Meyer coming home in 13th place on the day.

Team Sky's Ben Swift is the pick on the Brits and having gone into the stage in seventh place overall, he stuck with the leaders throughout, ending up in tenth place, 18 seconds adrift of Meyer going into Sunday's final stage.

"It's going to be a huge task for Swifty to try and crash that party and go for a second stage win (tomorrow)," said Team Sky sport director Sean Yates.

"But Geraint (Thomas) and Greg (Henderson) should both be fresh to support him so you can't rule him out.

"Obviously, being a man down doesn't help us, but we'll definitely be giving it a go and hopefully Swifty will climb even further up the standings."

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, competing in his final UCI race outside of the USA, came home 75th place, leaving him 66th in the general classification.

Great Britain's Mark Cavendish endured another disappointing day, coming home second to last with only sprint rival Tyler Farrar finishing behind him.