The opening stage of the 2019 WorldTour season looked likely to down to a sprint with some of the fastest riders in the peloton set to battle it out.

The likes of Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Elia Viviani (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) hoping to open their seasons strong.

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Ewan has already shown a promise in Australia, taking victory at the Down Under Classic last week and holding off Sagan.

Viviani suffered a crash in that race, took him out of contention, so he was keen to put in an emphatic performance.

Stage one of the Tour Down Under was a 129km run from North Adelaide to Port Adelaide.

>>> Tour Down Under live TV guide 2019

Organisers shortened the stage by around 4km due extreme heat and wind.

Home favourite Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) is hoping to extend his run of success at the TDU, so will have been keen to keep himself and his team out of trouble in the opening frantic sprint.

Last year’s overall winner Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) is another pre-race favourite trying to have a safe and stress free run to the line on the opening day.

>>> Richie Porte: ‘We can hit the ground running at Tour Down Under’

Catch up on the best bits from stage one or you can read everything that happened in our race report.

The 2019 Tour Down Under started on Tuesday (January 14) and ends on Sunday (January 20) atop the now famous Willunga Hill.

Thanks to the men’s race being at the very start of the international cycling calendar, the Tour Down Under always enjoys considerable attention from cycling fans across the world, eager to see a bit of bike racing after a few fallow months.

Maybe as a result of those few months without cycling, but the racing always seems entertaining too, and although some parts of the peloton use it as a chance to cruise around and enjoy some good weather, at the front the racing is fierce as riders try to pick up crucial WorldTour points early in the year.