Team Sky got their Tour Down Under campaign off to a solid start as they helped control the opening stage.

Richie Porte finished safely in the bunch in Campbelltown following an intriguing and tactical finish which saw the day’s breakaway narrowly prevail.

Jack Bobridge (Uni SA) timed his sprint to perfection to win the stage with the peloton bearing down. Fellow escapees Lieuwe Westra (Astana) and Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge) rounded out the podium, with the chasing pack finishing close enough to be awarded a time within the same second.

Team Sky looked at the bigger picture and helped set the pace on the 132.6-kilometre test, working to keep the move in sight, before monitoring the situation over the second-category Checker Hill.

Porte led the team home and was followed by Geraint Thomas, who had to dig deep in the closing stages after requiring a bike change as the race began to fracture.

After the stage Sports Director Kurt Asle Arvesen explained the situation and reflected on a day which saw the team work hard.

“It was a relatively calm day until G had to change bike at a critical moment,” he told TeamSky.com. "Thirty guys were dropped and he ended up with them and had to take up the chase alone. He got help from Luke [Rowe] and Salvatore [Puccio] and managed to get back on.

“We’d done a good job from the beginning of the stage. We controlled the peloton when the four riders went. It was a really strong breakaway so we had to start riding immediately. After a while other teams joined and helped us out, but you could see those guys were strong as we thought and they stayed away. That’s okay for us.

“Richie had Ian [Stannard] with him all day and got through the stage without any issues.”

“I guess with Richie we were expected to do a bit of work and didn’t really want to lose the race on the first day,” Stannard said. “We didn’t necessarily want to catch the break we just wanted to control it, and they were a strong group. If they finished two minutes ahead it would have been a lot of work to try and get that back as the climbs here aren’t massive. It was just about protecting our interest and not losing it on the first day.”