Greipel takes stage one Victory Down Under

Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) was the fastest sprinter and took his 17th stage win in Australia at the Santos Tour Down Under

Stage One started mid-morning with temperatures hitting 29F, and th 145 km course took the peloton from Port Adelaide to Lyndoch.

Andre Greipel claimed his 17th stage victory in the Tour Down Under when he won the 145-kilometer stage of the 2018 World Tour opener to take an early lead on general classification.

In the final sprint, Caleb Ewan and Elia Viviani launched sprints on either side of the road, but it was Greipel who had the freedom of Lyndoch down the middle, beating Ewan, Sagan and Viviani.

Greipel was able to time his finish perfectly to overtake Ewan a few meters from the line. Norwegian rider Daniel Hoegaard crashed at the final bend and was taken by ambulance to a hospital

The stage, which featured four 26.5-kilometer laps of a course through the wine-growing Barossa Valley, saw an early break by Australians Scott Bowdenand, Will Clarke and South African Nicholas Dlamini.

Clarke took 6 seconds in time bonuses from intermediate sprints, while Dlamini took the King of the Mountains jersey after winning the major climb of the stage up Humbug Scrub.

The trio established a lead of more than four minutes before Bowden dropped back to the peloton. Clarke and Dlamini stayed away, working together until the 110- kilometer point when Dlamini slowed to receive directions from his team. He lost touch with Clarke and fell back into the bunch

With the stage sprint victory, Andre Greipel moved into the GC lead ahead of Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) and Will Clarke (EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale).

Afterwards Greipel said, "Thanks to the team, they set up the sprint really well, Unfortunately we were already one rider down before the start so we just made the work for the other teams who had to make the chase so we could wait until the final and set a good bunch sprint up.”

Metropolitan Unley will be the setting of the start of tonight's Stage 2 of the Santos Tour Down Under.

The peloton will travel from Unley through to the Adelaide Hills, making three laps of the leafy suburb of Stirling before the race finish on Mount Barker Road over 148.6 kms.

Another bunch sprinted is expected.

VIDEO: 2018 Santos Tour Down Under Stage 1 Finish

2018 Santos Tour Down Under Stage 1 Top 10

1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 03:50:21
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 03:50:21
3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 03:50:21
4 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 03:50:21
5 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 03:50:21
6 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb 03:50:21
7 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 03:50:21
8 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 03:50:21
9 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Bahrain-Merida 03:50:21
10 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 03:50:21

2018 Santos Tour Down Under GC after Stage 1

1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 3:50:11
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:04
3 William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:06
5 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
6 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:09
7 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
8 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:10
9 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
10 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb