Cycling: TDU comes down to`two-horse race'

Matt Goss of Australia and team HTC Highroad celebrates after winning the stage during Stage One. Photo / Getty Images

The Tour Down Under title has come down to a high-speed 90km duel between Australian cycling stars Cameron Meyer and Matt Goss.

Meyer leads Goss by just eight seconds after the tough 131km "Queen" stage on Saturday at Willunga, south of Adelaide, which featured two climbs up the brutish Willunga Hill.

Spaniard Francisco Ventoso (Movistar) was a jubilant winner of the stage, but the bigger story was the battle among the overall leaders.

Meyer (Garmin-Cervelo) and Goss (HTC-Highroad) were in a lead group of 18 riders at the end of the 131km stage and Goss finished third behind Ventoso and Australian Michael Matthews.

That gave Goss a four-second time bonus, elevating him from third to second and cutting the deficit to Meyer, who finished 13th.

"For sure, (it's now) a two-horse race," said Garmin-Cervelo manager Matt White.

Goss was frustrated immediately after the finish, feeling he was boxed in at the final sprint and could have finished higher to gain a bigger time bonus.

"If I had a nicer run, I would have been a bit closer to the victory," he said.

"You've got to take a bit of good out of it, I still got a few seconds back on Cam, so the gap is less tomorrow.

"There are 16 seconds of (sprint) bonuses tomorrow, so it's still doable."

But the four seconds are still a handy boost ahead of Sunday's last stage, a 90km race on the sprinter-friendly Adelaide street circuit.

While Goss has an advantage because he is a sprinter and Meyer is definitely not, the race leader has a very strong team around him.

"My team rode fantastically and in the end it was a perfect situation," Meyer said.

"Obviously Goss picked up a few seconds, he closed he 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.

"It was well done, I have my fingers crossed."

History also favours Meyer - the lead has changed on the final day only once in the Tour's 13-year history.

German Kai Hundertmark led Australian Stuart O'Grady on countback going into the 2001 Adelaide Street Race.

But O'Grady picked up two seconds of time bonus to win his second Tour title, also the closest winning margin in the event's history.

Germany's defending Tour champion Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) finished in the second group at 11 seconds on Saturday, putting him out of overall contention.

Dutchman Lauren Ten Dam finished 14th and slipped from second to third at 10 seconds, while Matthews (Rabobank) is fourth overall at 12 seconds.

Australian legend Robbie McEwen (RadioShack) finished the stage 63rd at a minute and 48 seconds, also ending his overall hopes.

McEwen's team-mate Lance Armstrong was part of a seven-man break that went clear after the first climb, but they were soon caught.

Australian champion Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Cervelo) and Spaniard David Lopez (Movistar) crashed on the last corner with about 5km left.

Bobridge recovered to finish 42nd at 26 seconds, while Lopez was 78th at 1m48s.

- AAP