Ewan happy to relinquish TDU lead

New Australian cycling star Caleb Ewan will be happy to only wear the Tour Down Under's ochre jersey for a day.

Caleb Ewan on the podium after winning stage 1 of the Tour Down Under (AAP) Source: AAP

Ewan again showed he is the best sprinter at this year's race when he convincingly won the opening stage.

Tuesday's outstanding finish at Lyndoch in the Barossa was his first win at the Tour and the first time the 21-year-old has led a WorldTour stage race.

It is more confirmation of Ewan's status as a rapidly-rising star in world cycling.

But Ewan's pursuit of stage wins in sprint finishes is a secondary goal for Orica-GreenEDGE at the Tour.

The Australian team's main target this week is to help leader Simon Gerrans win the race for the fourth time.

The 132km second stage from Unley to Stirling features five laps of a 21km circuit in the Adelaide Hills, plus an uphill finish.

It will be the first chance for overall contenders such as Gerrans and BMC's defending champion Rohan Dennis to show their hands.

"I dont really have an ambition to keep the jersey," Ewan said after Tuesday's win.

"We are going for the overall with Simon and I don't know what the plan is for (Stirling), but I am sure it will be for him to get a few seconds."

Ewan also thanked Gerrans for letting him go for stage wins this week.

"If he says to the team that he just wants them to ride for him, they would have to do that," he said.

"So for a guy like that, who can really win overall, to say 'yeah, you can have your goes on the days it's going to be sprints', it means a lot."

All the likely overall contenders are within 10 seconds of Ewan's lead heading into stage two.