GreenEdge, the newly-formed Australian professional cycling team, have won their first WorldTour race, the Tour Down Under, after Simon Gerrans held on to the overall lead he took on the penultimate stage while André Greipel, a former two-time winner, took the line honours on the final 90-kilometre stage in Adelaide.
As the first ever Australian team at cycling's top table GreenEdge were hoping to make an immediate impact on their 'home' race.
However, the team run by Shayne Bannan and directed by Matt White made fans wait four days before being given a reason to celebrate, with Gerrans climbing into the leader's ochre jersey on the penultimate stage five.
In Sunday's final stage, a 90km street circuit won by Greipel of Germany, GreenEdge worked hard to defend Gerrans' lead to score a first ever victory in the WorldTour.
For GreenEdge's main stakeholder, businessman Gerry Ryan, it was an unexpected but welcome start to their maiden season.
"It's fantastic, it's been a great journey and this puts the icing on the cake," said Ryan.
With a core of Australian riders, GreenEdge hopes to challenge some of the world's top teams in most of the 28-race WorldTour events.
Among their ranks are veteran Tour de France stage winners Stuart O'Grady and Robbie McEwen.
However they also look to have a bright future with the likes of Jack Bobridge, Cameron Meyer and Luke Durbridge - who are all part of Australia's four-man track cycling pursuit team that will bid for gold at the Olympics.
Durbridge, the under-23 world champion who recently won the national time-trial title, was especially happy as he approaches his first season in the WorldTour.
"I can't be happier. I am a passionate Australian and to see the first WorldTour team for Australia win, you can't get much better than that," he said.
McEwen, who is set to retire before the summer, admitted his final race in Australia had special significance.
"I joined the team and was really excited about being part of the GreenEdge project, racing in an Aussie team, our national team," said McEwen, a 12-time stage winner on the Tour de France."
"It's a fantastic way to go out as far as Australian racing is concerned."
During his spell as sports director with Garmin-Cervelo last year White steered Meyer to a narrow victory over Matt Goss on the final stage.
Now at GreenEdge, and in charge of both riders, White was delighted to steer another Australian to the win.
"To win the Tour Down Under with our newly crowned national champion, we couldn't have written a better script. [I'm] elated, just elated," said White.
Gerrans finished with the same time as Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, the Movistar rider who is likely to be one of his biggest challengers in the hilly one-day classics of the spring.
Six years after his maiden win here, when the event was still a second tier race, the Victorian took even more pleasure from securing their first win.
"It's an even sweeter victory than my first one here in 2006. It couldn't be a better start for us," said Gerrans.
"Often that first victory for a new team is the hardest one to get and we've got it in our first outing, so it really is a dream start and I think this will create a great momentum for the year to come."
Tour Down Under details
Stage six; Adelaide City Council Street Circuit: 90km: 1. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol - Ger) one hour 56 minutes 48 seconds, 2. Mark Renshaw (Rabobank - Aus) at same time, 3. Alessandro Petacchi(Lampre-ISD - Ita) s..t., 4. Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ-BigMat - Blr) s.t., 5 José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar - Spa) s.t., 6. Edvald Boasson Hagen(Team Sky - Nor) s.t., 7. Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM - Fra) s.t., 8. Jonathan Cantwell (Saxo Bank - Aus) s.t., 9. Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Cannondale - Ita) s.t., 10. Manuel Belletti (Ag2r-La Mondiale - Ita) s.t.
Selected others: 20. Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - GB) s.t. 49. Adam Blythe (BMC Racing - GB) s.t., 66. Geraint Thomas(Team Sky - GB) 17secs, 81. Alex Dowsett (Team Sky - GB) 30secs,98. Matt Brammeier (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - Irl) 41secs.
Final general classification: 1. Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge - Aus) 20hrs 46mins 12secs, 2. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar - Spa) s.t., 3. Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan - Por) 8secs, 4. Michael Rogers(Team Sky - Aus) 14secs, 5. Rohan Dennis (UNI SA-Australia - Aus) s.t., 6. Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan - Bel) 16secs, 7. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky - Nor) 18secs, 8. Javier Moreno (Movistar - Spa) 23secs, 9. Michael Matthews (Rabobank - Aus) 29secs, 10. Eduard Vorganov (Katusha - Rus) 32secs.
Selected others: 46. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky - GB) 20hrs 54mins 42secs, 75. Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - GB) 24mins 32secs, 95. Matt Brammeier (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - Irl) 28mins 39secs, 121. Adam Blythe (BMC Racing - GB) 43mins 33secs, 124. Alex Dowsett (Team Sky - GB) 46mins 53secs.
Final sprints classification: 1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky - Nor) 56 points, 2. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol - Ger) 50pts, 3. Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ-BigMat - Blr) 39pts, 4. Mark Renshaw (Rabobank - Aus) 33pts, 5. Michael Matthews (Rabobank - Aus) 32pts, 6. Daniele Bennati (RadioShack-Nissan - Ita) 32pts, 7. Alejandro Valverde(Movistar - Spa) 27pts, 8. Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge - Aus) 27pts, 9. Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD - Ita) 27pts, 10. Óscar Freire(Katusha - Spa) 25pts.
Selected other: 39: Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - GB) 5pts.
Final King of the Mountains classification: 1. Rohan Dennis (UNI SA-Australia - Aus) 29pts, 2. Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM - Bel) 24pts, 3. Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge - Aus) 24pts, 4. Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan - Por) 18pts, 5. Alejandro Valverde(Movistar - Spa) 16pts, 6. Nathan Haas (Garmin-Barracuda - Aus) 16pts, 7. Javier Moreno (Movistar - Spa) 12pts, 8. Jay Mccarthy (UNI SA-Australia - Aus) 10pts, 9. Will Clarke (UNI SA-Australia - Aus) 10pts,10. Martin Kohler (BMC Racing - Swi) 8pts.
Se4lected other: 15. Matt Brammeier (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - Irl) 6pts.
Final young rider classification: 1. Rohan Dennis (UNI SA-Australia - Aus) 20hrs 46mins 26secs, 2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky - Nor) 4secs, 3. Michael Matthews (Rabobank - Aus) 15secs, 4. Ángel Madrazo (Movistar - Spa) 1min 1sec, 5. Wilco Kelderman (Rabobank - Hol) 2mins 19secs, 6. Romain Lemarchand (Ag2r-La Mondiale - Fra) 3mins 19secs, 7. Julien Vermote (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - Bel) 3mins 27secs, 8. Gorka Izagirre Inausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi - Spa) 4mins 34secs, 9. Cameron Meyer (GreenEdge - Aus) 8mins 47secs,10. Jay Mccarthy (UNI SA-Australia - Aus) 11mins 11secs.
Selected others: 17: Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - GB) 24mins 18secs, 27. Adam Blythe (BMC Racing - GB) 43mins 19secs,29. Alex Dowsett (Team Sky - GB) 46mins 39secs.
Final team's classification: 1. RadioShack-Nissan 62hrs 19mins 53secs, 2. Team Sky 24secs, 3. Movistar 31secs, 4. Rabobank 4mins 40secs, 5. Omega Pharma-Quick Step 4mins 45secs, 6. Katusha5mins 33secs, 7. BMC Racing 5mins 52secs, 8. Garmin-Barracuda6mins 22secs, 9. UNI SA-Australia 11mins 59secs, 10. FDJ-BigMat16mins 15secs.
