Germany's Andre Greipel opened his 2018 season in style when he claimed the first stage of the Tour Down Under in the South Australian town of Lyndoch on Tuesday (Jan 16).

Greipel timed his final sprint to perfection to overpower young Australian Caleb Ewan in the last 50m and claim a record 17th stage win in the first UCI race of the year.

World champion Peter Sagan from Slovakia (BORA-Hansgrohe) edged Italian Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) to take third, with another Italian, Simone Consonni (UAE Team Emirates), in fifth place.

Favourites for the general classification Richie Porte and Jay McCarthy finished safely in the peloton in a stage that was designed to produce a sprint finish in the wine-growing Barossa Valley town.

Greipel said the sprint had worked out perfectly for him.

"It was a pretty fast sprint but I thought I could wait as long as possible and I did a nice sprint I guess," he said

It's nice to be back here this way after a few years of absence. Because of the heat, the racing isn't that stressful. We were one guy down (Bjorg Lambrecht) but my team set the sprint really well."

The stage began in perfect conditions in the historic area of Port Adelaide and - as is usually the case at the Tour Down Under - three riders immediately broke away

Australian pair William Clarke (Education First-Drapac) and Scott Bowden (UniSA) were joined by South Africa's Nicholas Dlamini (Team Dimension Data), with the three opening up a four-and-a-half minute lead after 35 kilometres.

But the peloton didn't allow the leaders to get any further away and when Bowden was dropped after the King of the Mountain was decided, the lead was whittled back to three minutes and it was only a matter of time before the remaining two were reeled in.

Clarke dropped Dlamini with 30km to go and although the Australian battled bravely, he was eventually caught with 10km left, leaving the race open for the sprinters and their lead out teams.

Ewan's Mitchelton-SCOTT team took control 1,500 metres out and with the pint-sized Queenslander tucked in behind his five lead-out riders, Ewen looked favourite to win in Lyndoch for the third year in a row.

But Greipel stayed right on Ewen's wheel and he swung out 50m from the finish line to storm past the Australian for a clear win.

Greipel will wear the ochre leader's jersey in Wednesday's stage from Unley to the Adelaide Hills town of Stirling, with a four-second advantage over Ewan and Clarke, who picked up six bonus seconds for winning the two intermediate sprints

Source: AFP