Caleb Ewan beats Danny van Poppel in opening Tour Down Under stage
Last Updated: 17/01/17 8:05am
Caleb Ewan denied Team Sky a victory on the opening day of the UCI WorldTour season by taking stage one of the Tour Down Under.
Ewan, riding for Orica-Scott, survived sweltering conditions in South Australia and beat Danny van Poppel to the line to win a stage shortened to 118km from 145km because of the extreme heat.
Ireland's Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished third but neither he or Van Poppel could cope with Ewan's finish as he repeated his win in the opening stage of the 2016 race.
World champion Peter Sagan was in position to challenge for the win but dropped back in the closing stages and eventually finished 21st in his first race for Bora-Hansgrohe.
Race officials said they decided to reduce the overall distance of the stage after temperatures exceeded 38 degrees Celsius.
"The safety and welfare of the riders, spectators and everyone involved with the race is always our primary concern," race director Mike Turtur said.
"We consulted with rider representative Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal) and with our chief commissaire Alexander Donike and both agreed it would be sensible to shorten the stage distance."
Stage one result:
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott 3:24:18
2 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky) all same time
3 Sam Bennett (Ire) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Marko Kump (Slo) UAE Abu Dhabi
5 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
Overall standings:
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott 3:24:08
2 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky +4s
3 Sam Bennett (Ire) Bora-Hansgrohe +6s
4 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe +7
5 Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data +8
