Australian sprint ace Caleb Ewan was nowhere to be seen as Italian rival Elia Viviani showcased his peerless racing craft at the Tour Down Under.
Two days after Ewan won the Down Under Classic street race and Viviani crashed out of contention on the final lap, their fortunes were reversed dramatically in Port Adelaide.
Viviani squeezed through a tight gap on the far left in the sketchy final sprint and burst clear on the right to take the stage win.
After 18 wins last year, including a Tour Down Under stage, the 2016 Olympic champion on the track is also is the Tour's race leader for the first time.
Ewan was the big loser in stage one after he and his new Lotto-Soudal team were unsighted in the last couple of kilometres.
Sunday's win and Tuesday's failure illustrate Ewan is a work in progress as the Lotto-Soudal team leader.
While obviously frustrated, Ewan was far from dejected post-race.
Wednesday and Saturday will give him two more realistic chances for a stage win.
"It isn't disappointing - we are going to learn from this and that's the main thing," Ewan said.
Three-time world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), another favourite for Tuesday, also had to settle for eighth place.
An ecstatic Viviani's win takes any pressure off his powerful Deceuninck-Quick Step team for the rest of the Tour.
"When you start the WorldTour season with the stage win and the leader's jersey, it's the best way," he said.
"Now we know we've done a good job in the winter, so that's the question we've already answered."
It was a straightforward stage that started in North Adelaide and went through the Adelaide Hills, with the ANZAC break of Australians Jason Lea (UniSA), Michael Storer (Sunweb) and New Zealander Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) reeled in 40km from the finish.
Soon after the catch, Italian Astana rider Manuela Boaro was forced off the road and spectacularly somersaulted over his handlebars.
He quickly changed bikes and finished the stage.
It was a chaotic finish and the sprint teams were unable to properly run their leadout trains into the headwind.
Several riders were caught on the wrong side of a median strip inside the last couple of kilometres before they rejoined the race.
While Adelaide's heatwave took the temperature into the 40s as the riders went through the Hills, there was some cloud cover.
A sea breeze also took the edge off the conditions at the finish.
Wednesday's stage from Norwood to Angaston in the Barossa was shortened by 27km because of concerns it would be a blast furnace ahead of a cool change.
