A roller-coaster Tour Down Under is mission accomplished for Australian cycling star Sam Welsford as he auditions for a return to the Tour de France.
Australia's new sprint ace scored his third stage win in the Tour's 25th edition on Sunday as Jhonatan Narvaez was confirmed as the first rider from Ecuador to win the Santos Tour title.
Having won Olympic gold on the track last year in the team pursuit, Welsford is now focused on his road career, and he notes stage one of the Tour de France will be one for the fast men.
But it will not be easy for Welsford and his lead-out man Danny van Poppel to make the Tour cut at Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe, given the team will be focused on overall honours with Slovenian star Primoz Roglic.
So what Welsford has showed over the past week is exactly what he needed.
Welsford's only Grand Tour so far was the 2023 Tour de France, but his next start at one of the three-week events will have much bigger ambitions.
After winning the classic street race in Adelaide last weekend, Welsford won the first two stages of the Tour despite a crash on the second day.
He overcame another crash on Saturday to dominate the end of Sunday's 90km circuit race in the Adelaide parklands, claiming the race points classification as well.
"I have big goals in big races, so that's where I really want to perform," said Welsford, who also won three stages at the Adelaide Tour last year.
"Getting it right most days here was super-important for us.
"We'll have to see what happens."
Welsford was asked what he would need to do to convince his team that he and van Poppel deserve a Tour de France start.
"Just be consistent, just trying to get the consistent wins on the board and in a good way, where we're always not getting lucky, just doing it off pure performance," he said.
Retired British sprint ace Sir Mark Cavendish, a guest of the Tour Down Under this year, was impressed with what Welsford showed over the past week.
"To win when you crash is very difficult - he won when he crashed, he's won the day after a crash, that means he's in good form," Cavendish said.
There was another crash near the end of Sunday's stage, but Welsford was well ahead of the incident and Narvaez also avoided any late trouble.
Narvaez (UAE) maintained his nine-second advantage over Spaniard Javier Romo (Movistar).
Runner-up last year, Narvaez snatched the overall lead from Romo by taking out the Queen stage on Saturday, featuring the iconic Willunga summit finish.
"It was not easy today ... it was a bit dangerous, but in the end we win," Narvaez said.
"This is really big for me."
Race director Stuart O'Grady noted that Welsford was the only Australian stage winner in the men's or women's Tours, while Swiss Noemi Ruegg claimed the women's overall title.
It is a good sign for O'Grady, who tried hard to lure Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar for the 25th edition. His 18-month campaign fell over only a few weeks before the race.
"This year it felt like a really international Tour Down Under," O'Grady said.
"The Australians have been challenged across the women's and men's, which means the quality of the field, the level of racing, is better."
Rising star Fergus Browning (ARA national team) was the other big local winner in the men's Tour, riding strongly throughout and claiming the King of the Mountain category.
Earlier on Sunday, French sprinter Clara Copponi scored her first win for Lidl-Trek, taking out the women's Tour Down Under classic street race on the same circuit as the men's final stage.
