Aussies bid for a Nice outcome

THE stage is set tonight for Tasmanian Richie Porte to pounce on overall victory in Paris-Nice, which would cap a top weekend for Australian cycling.

Michael Albasini

THE stage is set tonight for Tasmanian Richie Porte to pounce on overall victory in Paris-Nice, which would cap a stellar weekend for Australian cycling.

Porte - who has been trusted to lead Team Sky in the week-long stage race - was seven seconds off the lead going into last night's mountainous Stage 5.

But it's tonight's testing 220km stage from Manosque to Nice, followed by an individual time trial tomorrow, which is expected to decide the race.

It comes as Orica-GreenEDGE teammates Matt Goss and Michael Albasini both sprinted to stage wins in Italy and France for the Australian team on Thursday night.

Albasini out-sprinted a small group on Stage 4 of Paris-Nice in Saint-Vallier. Hours later, Goss won Stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico in Indicatore after 230km in driving rain to mark his first win of the season.

"To come away with the win is great. It's huge for my motivation and confidence, and it's hopefully great for the team as well," Goss said.

"With the win also in Paris-Nice today, we're all on a bit of a high at the moment."

The world's fastest man, Mark Cavendish, finished fifth and didn't hold back post-race when he lamented poor positioning in the final sprint. Cavendish said he and his Omega Pharma-Quickstep team-mates needed to "have words" following the stage.