ADELAIDE, Australia — Australia’s Rohan Dennis won the Tour Down Under cycle race on Sunday when his United States-based BMC team helped him defend a two-second lead on the 90-kilometre (56-mile) final stage around the streets of Adelaide.
Wouter Wippert of the Netherlands won the final stage from Australia’s Heinrech Haussler and Belgium’s Boris Vallee. But Dennis claimed his first win on cycling’s World Tour when he held off compatriot Richie Porte to preserve the lead he has held since the third of the tour’s six stages.
Dennis was first on general classification, 2 seconds ahead of Porte and 20 seconds ahead of compatriot, BMC teammate and former Tour de France champion Cadel Evans who was riding in his last World tour event. The result produced the first all-Australian podium in race history.