Australian cycling legend Neil Stephens began his management career on a high tonight, as he saw two of his new riders grab a place in the top ten of the first stage in the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under.

It was a beautiful evening in the Adelaide seaside suburb of Glenelg, and an incredible 54,000 people lined the 1.8km street circuit to see some of the world's greatest cyclists. They were delighted when Michael Rogers, an Australian newly signed to the massive Mapei giant, took off on his own with only a handful of the scheduled 25 laps under his belt. His long effort was eventually silenced, but not until a concerted effort from Credit Agricole drove the bunch in pursuit.

After Rogers was recaptured, the pace over the last four laps was relentless. First Stuart O'Grady's cohorts at Credit Agricole, then Saeco's red machine led the peloton's fierce acceleration. But with two laps to go, the massive crowd were treated to the first sight of Linda McCartney-Jacob's Creek's new British racing green jersey towing the field along, as Marcel Gono, David McKenzie and Ciaran Power stretched the whole bunch into a thin, flowing, multi-coloured line.

Their speed spelled pain and the loss of ground for many in their wheel tracks, but their most telling contribution to the race was ensuring that it would definitely end in a sprint, as the pace was far too high for anybody to escape. At the death, fast-finishing Graeme Brown of the local United Water team was the quickest, pressed by local hero Stuart O'Grady. Hard behind them were Saeco's Fabio Sacchi and Linda McCartney-Jacob's Creek's resident Irishman Ciaran Power. David McKenzie, despite spending much of the previous few minutes paving the way, still had the strength and form to finish 7th.

"To get a win would have been nice, but I was really pleased to see the team all working together. That made my day," said Neil Stephens after his first day in the office.

"I'm well pleased with 4th today," said Ciaran Power. "Guys like Graeme Brown have been riding these races flat out since Christmas; I've been in Ireland and France and haven't raced since October. A couple more days like this and I'll have some sprinting speed in my legs."

Report by John Deering