Marcel Kittel skittles TDU criterium king Andre Greipel to win series opener in photo finish

MARCEL Kittel dethroned Andre Greipel as the Tour Down Under's opening night king by winning in a photo finish.

Marcel Kittel (right) edges Andre Greipel to win the People's Choice Classic in a photo finish.

GERMAN giant Marcel Kittel has dethroned his countryman Andre Greipel as the Tour Down Under's opening night king by winning the People's Choice Classic in a photo finish.

Lotto-Belisol's Greipel - who has won the 50km criterium three times - jumped first in a bunch sprint and looked home before Giant-Shimano's Kittel came flying past on his left to win by less than half-a-wheel length.

But arguably the ride of the night went to 19-year-old Australian Caleb Ewan, who in his WorldTour debut and racing without a lead-out train for wildcard team UniSA-Australia scorched home to claim third spot.

After crossing the line, Greipel rode up next to Kittel - a four-time Tour de France stage winner last year - and congratulated him on winning the first race at the new River Torrens venue.

"It's a sprint, I am a sprinter, I am always motivated," Kittel said post-race. "It doesn't matter if it's in January or October, today I had good legs and the team was awesome.

"It was quite hectic in the two last corners before the finish line. My team did a really great job, they brought me in a really good position and I was able to go a bit my own way and start my sprint.

"After the last corner and in the wheel of Andre it was quite close, but I am happy to win."

Asked whether he had heard of Ewan who produced an amazing ride to claim third spot on the podium, Kittel said: "I've heard already from Koen De Kort, who lives in Australia during the winter told me he is a big talent and a man to watch and I think with his third place today he proved that he is."

With doubt still hanging over Stage 1 from Nuriootpa to Angaston on Tuesday because of a bushfire in the Barossa Valley, Kittel said the most important thing was the safety of residents and the bike race was secondary.

"It's horrible, especially for the people living there," Kittel said.

"The most important thing is that the people who live there are safe and the sport comes second. We would like to race but if it's not possible, then it's not possible."

The race wasn't so good for Movistar, however, which lost Giovanni Visconti in a crash in the opening stages. He was taken from the circuit in an ambulance, while Aussies Graeme Brown, Jonathan Cantwell and CJ Sutton also came down.

Aussie Tour de France champion Cadel Evans sat mid-field most of the race and sandwiched between two of his BMC teammates managed to avoid any trouble.

Evans said he was relieved to make it through the race without any trouble.

"First race of the year is always a bit nervous but a really nice ambience and a sunset criterium," he said. "It's great to get the season started and great to get the team cohesion going.

"We all passed safely through and that's a good start."

There were a few early attacks, including one from Sky's Richie Porte before three riders escaped after 10 minutes and Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) emerged to win the first sprint from Luca Wackermann (Lampre-Merida) and Axel Domont (Ag2R-La Mondiale).

The final corner of the circuit where King William Road meets Victoria Drive - which saw two crashes in the earlier women's race - saw the men suffer the same fate with some riders careering into the barriers.

Haas, Wackermann and Domont were joined by Anthony Roux (FDJ.fr) and they extended their lead to a sizeable 40 seconds with 16 laps to go, and it was Haas who attacked again to claim the second intermediate sprint.

Lotto-Belisol and Giant-Shimano went to the front of the peloton in a bid to bring the break back for their German leaders Greipel and Kittel.

With 10 laps remaining the four leaders had just 12 seconds over the charging pack, and that forced Domont to attack the tiring break, but his efforts were in vain as he was caught four laps later.

That triggered a counter-attack from Orica-GreenEDGE recruit Mat Hayman and Ag2R-La Mondiale's Damien Gaudin, but that saw the Team Sky train take charge of the peloton with five laps to go.

They were all together with four laps to go when Giant-Shimano moved up on the right to challenge Sky for the front position and Lotto-Belisol loomed large on their left.

Sky controlled the pace until two laps to go when Lotto-Belisol took over, but it was left to Greipel, Kittel and Ewan to fight it out and they didn't disappoint by putting on a show for the huge crowd.

Earlier, Dutch rider Loes Gunnewijk led an Orica-AIS clean sweep of the opening round of the Santos Women's Cup in Adelaide.

The 33-year-old launched a solo attack half-way through the 35-minute criterium and her strength, combined with the collective might of her teammates, controlled the rest of the race.

Despite a brave effort by Bridie O'Donnell to bring her back, Gunnewijk crossed the line seven seconds ahead of teammates Melissa Hoskins and Annette Edmondson, who won the bunch sprint.

"It was a pretty long time trial but it's really nice, my first win of the year of course and it's a good place here in Adelaide," said Gunnewijk after showcasing women's cycling in front of a big crowd at the River Torrens criterium circuit.

"It was our goal to make the race really hard from the gun and we were here with the numbers.

"I felt my legs and they were really good. After some attacking, the speed went down and I attacked just before the corner and it was the perfect moment.

"I had a really good training camp in Australia and have been here for six or eight weeks. I want to be good in the spring classics in Europe, so I think I'm fit and am looking forward to the next races."

Four riders formed an early break after just two laps but weren't allowed much space and as the bunch came back together, 10 riders came down in a crash on the final corner which caused another split.

This time it was two-time defending national champion Gracie Elvin and Gunnewijk who attacked.

Gunnewijk put 20 seconds into the field with 15 minutes remaining before another crash on the same corner put pre-race favourites Edmondson and Ashlee Ankudinoff on the bitumen.

As Gunnewijk attempted to ride away, Jessie MacLean and O'Donnell - who was third in last week's national time trial championship - worked hard to bridge the gap.

With five minutes remaining, the Dutch leader had only eight seconds on the chasing pair. But with MacLean happy to sit on O'Donnell's wheel and allow her teammate up the road to stay clear, Gunnewijk stormed to victory.

The Santos Women's Cup is scheduled to continue with a road race at Angaston tomorrow but Cycling SA will wait until 7am to decide whether it goes ahead after nearby bushfires in the Barossa Valley.

The People's Choice Classic featuring all 18 men's WorldTour teams and wildcards UniSA-Australia and Drapac Professional Cycling is due to start at 7.15pm.