Tour Down Under 2018 – stage one results and latest standings after Andre Greipel sprints to victory

André Greipel  won the 17th stage of his career at the Tour Down Under after the Lotto-Soudal sprinter beat Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan to the line at the end of the 145-kilometre opening  stage from Port Adelaide to Lyndoch.

Greipel, 35, started the race a man short after Bjorg Lambrecht, the Belgian neo-pro who was due to make his WorldTour debut for was removed from the start list by Lotto-Soudal after confusion over his compliance with the anti-doping whereabouts system.

The 20-year-old Lambrecht was required to sign up for the Anti-Doping Administation and Management whereabouts system 42 days before the race start, but didn't receive log-in data until 32 days from start time, according to a statement from the Lotto-Soudal team.

"Without a written confirmation from the UCI that Bjorg can start, neither the rider nor the team can take any risk," the statement said.

Greipel, nonetheless, got his season off to the perfect start with yet another victory at the race he has won twice overall. 

"Thanks to the team, they set up the sprint really well," Greipel said. "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."