Sam Welsford will probably have the ochre jersey leading him out at the finish of stage one of the Tour Down Under, after teammate Sam Watson won the prologue.
Months of planning and equipment testing paid off for the British Ineos Grenadiers team on Tuesday when Watson claimed the prologue time trial in the Adelaide Parklands and took the race lead.
While the British 24-year-old will wear the ochre leader's jersey for stage one on Wednesday in the Barossa town of Tanunda, there will be no protecting him.
Given the stage is likely to end with a bunch sprint, Watson will be the last or second-last member of the team's lead-out train for Welsford, their Australian recruit.
Welsford won three Santos Tour stages last year and will be one of the top favourites for stage one.
"He (Welsford) will steal it off me, yeah," Watson joked of the ochre jersey.
"I will be going 100 per cent for him."
But before Wednesday's hostilities, Watson revelled in scoring the first win of the WorldTour season.
As soon as the Tour Down Under course was published, Ineos Grenadiers went to work targeting Watson for the prologue.
They set him up on a purpose-built bike and conducted wind tunnel testing.
He won the prologue at the Tour of Romandie last year, similar to the 3.6km race against the clock that started in the Adelaide CBD and finished at nearby Victoria Park.
Team management also wisely slotted him among the early starters, given the windy conditions for the twilight prologue.
Watson was the 11th of the 140 riders, setting off at one-minute intervals, and that meant he had to spend two hours in the hot seat at the finish.
Thanks to anti-doping protocols, it also meant he was busting for the toilet by the time Australian time trial champion Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) was the last rider to finish.
"It was a big sigh of relief. I'm so happy to start the season with a win," Watson said.
"Of course, I'm leading the race now and it's amazing - it's great for myself and the team to start the season like this.
"I was going for the win and I'd be disappointed if I didn't win, especially with how much work we've put into this."
Watson said waiting for so long at the finish was no fun.
"If I'm honest, it's not too enjoyable. It's nice that I'm there, but I had the speakers right next to me and I can't relax with that in my ears," he said.
"It was a bit of a stressful two hours."
Watson clocked four minutes 16.9 seconds over the flat course.
Compatriot Ethan Vernon (NSN), another early starter, was runner-up and finished just 0.59 of a second behind Watson.
The prologue winner will have an opportunist role at the Tour and is unlikely to contend for the overall win.
Prologue fancies such as Welsford and fellow Australian Olympic team pursuit gold medallists Kel O'Brien (Jayco AlUla) and Oliver Bleddyn (ARA National Team) couldn't beat Watson's time.
It became clear the only two riders who could challenge Watson's time were Australian time trial specialists Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and Vine.
Winner of the Australian time trial championship earlier this month, Vine was the last to start from Wakefield St.
But Plapp was more than four seconds slower and Vine finished fourth, 4.02 seconds behind Watson.
