New Zealander Ally Wollaston (FDJ United-Suez) swept to victory with a powerful finishing sprint to take the first stage of the Tour Down Under in Adelaide on Saturday.
Wollaston was positioned by her teammates to close out the stage after solo breakaway Alessia Vigilia's (Uno-X) brave effort petered out inside the final 300 metres of the Willunga to Willunga stage over 137.4 kilometres, the longest-ever in the women's TDU.
Wollaston had plenty to spare at the finish to take the leader's ochre jersey from England's Josie Nelson (Picnic PostNL) with Femke Gerritse (SD Worx-Protime) of the Netherlands third.
"It means the world. To be honest, I didn't feel great in the race, I was feeling really anxious," Wollaston said.
"I really struggled in the peloton and I was so lucky to have these girls (teammates) in the final sprint; they led me to the perfect place and all I had to do was finish it off."
Defending champion Noemi Ruegg (EF Education-Oatly) of Switzerland was fourth in a bunched finish just ahead of Canada's Sarah Van Dam (Team Visma).
Wollaston joined the French FDJ-Suez team last year and won the Tour of Britain Women in June. She also won the opening stage of the 2024 Tour Down Under.
The Kiwi will wear the ochre jersey into Sunday's second climbing stage over 130km and looking ahead she said: "If you're wearing a world tour's leader's jersey you have to do it justice, so I think I'll go all in tomorrow to try and keep it."
The finish line was just out of reach for the courageous breakaway rider Vigilia, who surged to the front of the peloton with about 100km to go and at one stage led the peloton by 3min 30sec.
"For sure, I was hoping the race would be a bit shorter so that I could make it," the Italian said.
The Australian Liv AlUla Jayco team was thwarted by a crash inside the last hectic 5km that took out several of its riders, including one of the stage's favourites, Ruby Roseman-Gannon.
The TDU is the opening event in the UCI World Tour season.