Australian riders throw down the gauntlet on day one of Santos Tour Down Under

AUSTRALIA was the definitive flavour of the 2014 UCI WorldTour opener to the long season ahead on Tuesday.

AUSTRALIA was the definitive flavour of the 2014 UCI WorldTour opener to the long season ahead on Tuesday.

While Orica-GreenEDGE's Simon Gerrans earned a stage one of the Santos Tour Down Under, Will Clarke earned the most aggressive rider's jersey in an impressive debut on the world stage for Drapac.

Clarke stayed away from the main peloton for about two hours alongside UniSA's Neil van der Ploeg.

The Australian ProContintental team threw down the gauntlet to its big budget rivals with the local UniSA team also hogging the TV spotlight.

But Clarke's brave ride pleased Drapac owner Michael Drapac after the team had tried to be part of the Tour Down Under for six years before earning a wildcard entry this year.

"I probably wasn't emotionally ready for it,'' Michael Drapac said.

"I knew he'd (Clarke) be aggressive.

"But I was asked by the other riders what I expected for the week, I said that we'd be a professional outfit, be really competitive and show that we really deserve to be here.

"I think once we got to the about 30km mark (with Clarke in front) we had achieved what we wanted.

"The rest was a bonus, it was surreal."

Clarke, 28, said he had nothing left in the tank when the peloton cranked up Menglers Hill towards the Angaston finish line 135km after the Nuriootpa 11am start.

"It was quite hard with the two of us (Clarke and van der Ploeg) chopping off all day,'' Clarke said.

"We worked pretty well together.

"The plan was for one of us (Drapac) to stay there as long as I could but I had a crack anyway.

"Neil (van der Ploeg) and I were going pretty strong.

"The first attack worked and that doesn't normally happen."

But Clarke does have an ace up his sleeve for Wednesday.

Clarke two years ago claimed a stage win at Stirling where the race will end after starting at Prospect.

"I like Stirling,'' he said.

"I have done pretty well there before."

But Clarke won't have it his own way given Orica-GreenEDGE will be out to protect Simon Gerrans' overall lead after the Victorian claimed stage one on Tuesday.

Orica-GreenEDGE team director Matt White believes Gerrans can win consecutive stages.

"It's a stage that Simon (Gerrans) can definitely win,'' White said.

"Stirling I think he's run second there twice before and we've got other guys that have won there like Michael Matthews.

"If we're going to win the tour it's all about bonus seconds and we'll take as many as we can."