The Tour Down Under began the WorldTour cycling calendar with a bang: Richie Porte ruling the summit finishes and Caleb Ewan showing 2020 could become his best year yet.

Over the week, fans were able to put aside the bushfires ravaging Australia to enjoy sprints and the Paracombe and Willunga climbing stages.

Porte Is Unstoppable Down Under

Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) mastered this early season race, and he's not sharing it with anyone. No one came close to him Sunday when he blasted clear of Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and flew past all the early escapees on the Willunga Hill. Only Matthew Holmes (Lotto-Soudal), from the early escape, could latch on.

Porte could not stop Holmes's kick to win the Willunga Hill for a seventh consecutive time, but this time what mattered was the overall title and not another Willunga KOM. He did enough to take home the ochre leader's jersey, adding to his overall overall in 2017.

Porte is unstoppable in this early season on the explosive climbs. If that will transfer over to a grand tour win is unclear. With Porte, Trek-Segafredo has an ace for the big week-long races later in the year.

Ewan On Track For Best Season Yet

Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) came out of the gates firing in 2020. He won the pre-race criterium and then bagged two stages once the race officially began. The Stirling stage is one of those power-man finals but the small Aussie stayed tucked in and fired at the right moment to win ahead of Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott). The second stage win came ahead of Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick Step)

For Ewan, this underlines his move to Lotto-Soudal at the start of 2019. After years of waiting with Mitchelton-Scott, he finally debuted in the Tour de France with Lotto-Soudal and he won three times. 

In his second year with the team, the sprints Down Under show Ewan is on track for his best season yet, and perhaps reaching the Mark Cavendish stratosphere.

Sam Bennett Benefiting From Team Change

Just like Ewan last year, Sam Bennett could have a new lease on his sprint life with the Wolf Pack. He moved over to Team Deceuninck-Quick Step after sitting shotgun to Peter Sagan and Pascal Ackermann in team Bora-Hansgrohe. Out of the gates, he won stage one Down Under and podiumed in the other sprints. It bodes well for the road ahead, which includes the Tour de France in July.

Bike Racing Remains Unpredictable

Where was Elia Viviani this week? He left Deceuninck-Quick Step for Team Cofidis this off-season, but he could not celebrate as quickly as he would have liked Down Under. 

After sprinting to second in the criterium and fourth in stage one, Vivian crashed. He will need to recover and the team might need to tinker with the lead-out train ahead of the season's big goals.

Who had picked Matthew Holmes (Lotto-Soudal) to win on Willunga Hill? He said it was his first time to race properly uphill, having spent the last six years in a continental team racing in Great Britain. 

Just when you think you know who will win – like Porte for a seventh time on Willunga – a win like Holmes' shows cycling is full of surprises.