Richie Porte got his and Team Sky’s season off to a flying start with victory in the Australian time trial championships.

The Tasmanian laid down an impressive benchmark in difficult conditions across the 40.9-kilometre course in Buninyong to pull on the famous green and gold jersey.

A time of 51 minutes and 50 seconds was enough for victory, with Porte beating Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) by 7.1 seconds, while Jack Bobridge (Budget Forklifts) rounded out the podium 26.8 seconds back.

“I didn’t expect to win like that,” a happy Porte told TeamSky.com after picking up the team’s first national title on Australian soil.

“I’ve had a good day. After last season I went to Tassie in November and I’ve just been training full gas.

“We spoke with [Head of Athlete Performance] Tim Kerrison last night and worked out a plan. It was about not taking risks. We knew that it wasn’t going to be won and lost in the descents. With it being wet there were going to be risks but I always felt under control. I think I was a fair way down at the turn around but I knew that it would be better for me coming back. I had my old team director behind me in the car too which was nice as he gave me my first leg up in the sport.”

After a difficult 2014 and a hard off-season of training, victory against a stacked field bodes well for Porte, who also points to the strides made in his TT position.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve done a good time trial,” he explained. “We did a lot of work on my position at the end of last season. We’ve changed it a lot. I’ve been competitive in time trials before but the last few years haven’t been so good. So it’s nice to lay one down against a top notch field. I couldn’t be happier – I just got engaged the other day so it’s a great way to start the year.

"The problem for me last year was my health and it looks like I am back on top of it and I'm thrilled to bits to win this. Look at what a great podium we've got and it was a great course for me and great to have Andrew Christie-Johnson of Avanti behind me was like being back in the old days which is fantastic.

"I haven't done a good time trial on a course like this for a long time and we've done a lot of work on my time trial position with the team so credit to Tim Kerrison who believed in me even after the disaster that was 2014 and I am absolutely thrilled to have this national jersey to race in over in Europe. It's just exciting and I can’t wait.

"The last 20km suited me down to the ground to win by seven seconds over Rohan Dennis (BMC). Full credit to him he's a great rider. Coming into the last 10km I knew that I had to dig in and those sort of climbs are my bread and butter.

“It’s awesome to have an Aussie jersey in a British team, but there’s not much time to celebrate now. I’ll have a nice dinner tonight and then it’s full focus on Sunday and Tour Down Under.”

Porte will be back in action on Sunday in the national road race alongside Team Sky team-mate Nathan Earle.

"I'd like to enjoy this one for the moment but tomorrow at 8am I am back out on the road bike for three hours and Sunday is a bit more of a lottery," Porte said of the chances for the double. "We'll see how the races play out and I can take confidence from this win and if that doesn’t work out I still have one jersey and a great team for Tour Down Under.

"I am focused and it's a big year for me. There are a lot of people questioning me and my ability, for me, I have some big goals this year and it’s a fantastic way to start it."