Swift impresses in Austria

Ben Swift bagged his second podium position at the Tour of Austria after André Greipel emerged victorious.

Team Sky duo maintain top 10 spots

Ben Swift bagged his second podium position at the Tour of Austria after being narrowly outsprinted on the sixth stage by André Greipel and Robert Förster. The Team Sky rider was guided into position brilliantly by his team-mates in the closing stages but despite giving it his all, was just pipped to the line by his two high-profile rivals. Team-mates Morris Possoni and John-Lee Augustyn also ended the day just three seconds behind to retain their fourth and eighth places respectively in the general classification, as did overall race leader Riccardo Riccò. Temperatures touching 30 degrees had made for a sweltering day of action but that didn't stop Thomas Kvist (Quick-Step), David Gutiérrez (Footon), Michael Singer (Arbö-KTM) and Josef Benetseder (Vorarlberg) breaking clear early on. That quartet built a lead of over seven minutes before Flaminia and HTC-Columbia - riding for Riccò and Greipel respectively - stepped up the chase. Benetseder had performed solidly in the mountains all week and swept up maximum points on the day's three classified climbs to secure the King of the Mountains jersey outright before leaving the front trio to it. After winning the two remaining intermediate sprints, Singer quickly followed Benetseder's lead, leaving Kvist and Gutiérrez to press on ahead. Despite their determined attempt, that duo were hauled back inside the final 10km and HTC-Columbia, Milram and Team Sky battled for supremacy at the head of the peloton as they entered Laxenburg. In the flat-out finale which ensued, Greipel produced one his trademark kicks to secure the victory, with Swift only inches behind Förster at the line. Stage six result: 1 - André Greipel - (GER) - HTC-Columbia - (5:42:54)
2 - Robert Förster - (GER) - Milram - (same time)
3 - Ben Swift - (ENG) - Team Sky - (same time)
4 - Danilo Napolitano - (ITA) - Katyusha - (same time)
5 - Nikolas Maes - (BEL) - Quick-Step - (same time)
6 - Daniele Colli - (ITA) - Flaminia - (same time)
7 - Martin Reimer - (GER) - Cervélo - (same time)
8 - Leigh Howard - (AUS) - HTC-Columbia - (same time)
9 - Graeme Brown - (AUS) - Rabobank - (same time)
10 - Simon Zahner - (SUI) - BMC Racing - (same time)
Overall standings 1 - Riccardo Riccò - (ITA) - Flaminia - (24:28:55)
2 - Emanuele Sella - (ITA) - Carmiooro - (+1:44)
3 - Sergio Pardilla - (ESP) - Carmiooro - (+1:48)
4 - Morris Possoni - (ITA) - Team Sky - (+4:17)
5 - Tiago Machado - (POR) - RadioShack - (+4:36)
6 - Artem Ovechkin - (RUS) - Katyusha - (+4:48)
7 - Vladimir Gusev - (RUS) - Katyusha - (+5:37)
8 - John-Lee Augustyn - (RSA) - Team Sky - (+5:46)
9 - Stefan Denifl - (AUT) - Cervélo - (+5:50)
10 - Ruslan Pidgornyy - (UKR) - ISD-Neri - (+6:00)