The Tour Down Under is drawing a lot of attention to Australian athletes.

It is the only "home" World Tour race, and many athletes return much earlier than their European counterparts to train and prepare for a new campaign in the southern hemisphere summer.

But looking over the bronzed locals on this year's start list, there was another obvious candidate for the pundits predicting a winner in the first stage of the men's race: the German fast man Phil Bauhaus.

Bauhaus also won the first stage of last year's race, and in the South Australian wine country of Tanunda, all involved worked up a sweat as the second peloton formed under the shade of trees during a sign-on in the blazing sun, as the racers prepared to depart for their first World Tour race of the year! ...

The 29-year-old could have been ahead of Sam Welsford (Bora-Hansgrohe) at the line as well, had it not been for a series of unfortunate incidents before and during the stage. Instead, he finished second ahead of Biniam Girmay (Intermarché Wanty) and Caleb Yuan (Jayco Arla).

Bauhaus thanked his teammate Jack Haig in the team van by the finish line after the 144-km stage. As Bauhaus pointed out, it was not Haig's job, but he appreciated his contribution to the finish, which left the team - through no fault of its own - drained.

"With Sam and Caleb behind Bora, I was able to start sprinting from third and pass Caleb.

"Sam is a pretty good sprinter too. He had the best lead out.

"I did the best I could, I think second was the best I could do today.

And considering that Bauhaus' right-hand man, Nikias Arndt, retired late in the race, it was a pretty good result. Nicolo Blatty, who was supposed to be Arndt's replacement, crashed with less than 10 km to go in the stage, and Torstein Traen crashed earlier than that.

"We are still in the middle of the race. It's never easy to finish on the podium," Bauhaus said.

Neal Stephens, sport director of Bahrain Victorious, noted at the start of the stage that they had lost Arndt, who had resumed training in Spain after being injured in the gym.

"Phil is in great shape. The problem with Phil is that last year we had Nikias Arndt. Nikias had an accident in the gym and hurt his knee doing weights. He has been Phil's right hand man for the sprint finish. We will be adjusting the leadout without Nikias."

While in Australia, Bauhaus will work with Blatty as well as Cameron Scott. The team confirmed in a post-race press release that Train, who completed the stage, may have broken his arm and was sent to the hospital after the race.

"We have some excellent young guys, they are great bike riders and will do a great job, but we lack the experience of Nikias Arndt. Nikias is a really reliable rider in sprint finishes," Stefan told Cycling News.

The Tour Down Under heads into Wednesday's undulating second stage.

Climbers like Haig will have to wait until later in the week for their chance. Haig returns to the Tour Down Under for the first time since 2015, when he finished 16th.

"He's in great shape. It's hard to say if he can win or get on the podium, but he's certainly training as hard as he can and everything is going really well.

"I think probably the best rider of the bunch is Luke Plapp (Jayco Alula) and he's really in good shape ...... He stands out the most among the top group and the group below him should be fine."

Unlimited access to all coverage of the Tour Down Under and Women's Tour Down Under, including reports, breaking news and analysis from Australia. Details.