Rising cycling star Caleb Ewan has overcome a messy finish to execute the first of what will be many wins at the Tour Down Under.
The pint-sized Orica-GreenEDGE sprinter was caught a few riders back heading into the high-speed finish of the People's Choice Classic.
But a perfect leadout from teammate Daryl Impey and Ewan's devastating burst of speed was too much for his rivals at the end of the 50km Adelaide circuit race.
Italian Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Segafredo) was second and British rider Adam Blythe (Tinkoff) was third.
The classic is a hitout for the Tour Down Under field ahead of the six-day race, which starts on Tuesday.
The win continues Ewan's outstanding start to the year and confirms the 21-year-old is the No.1 sprinter in the Tour field.
Already this month, Ewan has won the Mitchelton Bay Classic criterium series in Victoria and the national criterium championship.
"My confidence is pretty high at the moment - I knew there were going to be some quick guys here.
"To be able to beat them in a sprint pretty comfortably was a good confidence boost."
Ewan made his debut at the WorldTour race two years ago as a member of the composite UniSA national team.
After a promising third in the classic, he crashed and struggled for the rest of the Tour with the high standard of the racing.
Sunday showed how much as changed.
Orica-GreenEDGE rode superbly for him, with Impey and Michael Albasini prominent at the front of the peloton.
Newly-crowned Australian under-23 champion Chris Hamilton, riding for the composite UniSA national team, impressed with a solo breakaway.
But it was never going to stick as the sprinters' teams set up for the finish.
All eyes were on Ewan and IAM Cycling tried to upset Orica-GreenEDGE's plans with a big surge on the last of the 30 laps.
Despite the heavy traffic in the last few hundred metres, Impey put Ewan in a good position for the final blast to the finish.
While Simon Gerrans is the main rider for Orica-GreenEDGE at the Tour Down Under, they will try to set up Ewan for at least a couple of stage wins.
Its always hard going into a race as a favourite and especially when there is such a tough field here," Ewan said.
"I was probably more nervous for today than I have been for any of the other races so far.
"You get a bit messy in the end because it is hard for the team to take control of the front the whole time and I think IAM were sitting back a bit and they did it pretty well.
"We just jumped on them and Daryl did a perfect lead-out in the end.
Orica-GreenEDGE team director Matt White was rapt that Ewan executed the finish so well.
"This is not officially part of the race, but he beat the same blokes he has to race for the rest of the week," he said.
"So it's a very good start."
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