Team Sky rider Peter Kennaugh claims victory in Australia

The 26-year-old crossed the line six seconds clear of home favourite Leigh Howard in the 174km event, with Niccolo Bonifazio in third place.

Kennaugh mounted his assault on the field 15km from the finish, pulling well clear of the chasing pack before cruising home.

It marked a stark improvement for Kennaugh who finished ninth in the inaugural staging of the race 12 months ago.

And the Team Sky rider said: “It’s good for my morale.

“It's good to prove to people I’m not messing around.

“I don’t want to be just another rider. I want to be the rider the team can look to in order to lead races.

“It’s the first winter where I’ve had real structure to my training and it helped massively in that final 10km when I was able to hold that pace. I would never have been able to do that a year ago, or two years ago.

“It’s been hard but obviously rewarding.”