The 2025 Santos Tour Down Under kicked off in Gumeracha with a predictable sprint stage taken by the favourite Sam Welsford (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), but a stunning kick from Visma-Lease a Bike's first-year WorldTour rider Matthew Brennan almost upended the predictions and the result.
Welsford was relieved to add to the trio of stages from last year but admitted that he almost committed the cardinal sin of celebrating too soon, as Brennan was accelerating rapidly on his left and nearly got past him at the line.
"I had someone on my wheel and I was keeping them in check, and I didn't actually notice the left," Welsford admitted.
"I went to stop and salute, but I [had gone] pretty long, so I didn't have much legs left. I should have realized that it was a really fast downhill sprint at the end.
"I thought I had it, but [Brennan] came at such a pace - I thought my front wheel was over the line, but then he came zooming past me, and I thought 'maybe I mucked that up', but I was happy to get it."
Even with the victory, Welsford said he has room for improvement.
"Danny told me he had more to give in the final he could have gone longer, so I just need to be a bit more patient and not stop going so bloody early - use them a lot longer and make my life a lot easier."
For Brennan, coming so close to a victory in his WorldTour debut was "a little frustrating", but he received a nice consolation prize in taking the lead in the best young rider's classification.
"It's a really nice result but it would be nice to win," Brennan said.
"It's really nice being the young riders' jersey. That's something that we're going for this year as a team. But it would always be nice to come first.
The 19-year-old's impression of his first WorldTour bunch kick?
"Sprinting is freakin' hectic, innit?"
Another WorldTour debutant, Tim-Torn Teutenberg (Lidl-Trek) was a close fourth behind Groupama-FDJ's Matthew Walls and could be another sprinter to watch in the coming stages.
"I nearly crashed with 3k to go or something, and then I went out of the pedals and my chain dropped. Then I had to get back up to speed. Luckily, I had two teammates and then they brought me back to the front, then I had a good run and still came forth," Teutenberg explained to Cyclingnews.
"I think everybody was pretty stressed on the first day of the race."
The crash inside the final three kilometres involved Brennan's teammate Dylan van Baarle.
According to Australian champion Luke Durbridge, who witnessed the wreck ahead of him, "It was just a normal lead-out sprint stage crash - a couple of guys were doing the lead-out, they swing off, they come back slower - guys are trying to move up.
"Inside the last three k's, it's quite messy in a sprint stage so it must have been a kick of wheels. I'd actually pulled it up and I saw it happening and then a couple of guys hit me from behind."
