German Marius Mayrhofer took his cue from Australian teammate Sam Welsford for an emotional win at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
The 22-year-old Team DSM rider avoided a crash in Sunday's sprint finish at Geelong to claim his first professional victory.
Mayrhofer was in tears after leading home the front group of 25 riders that also included Australian sprint aces Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) and Caleb Ewan (national team).
Only a few hours earlier, Welsford had scored the team's first win of the year by taking out stage six of the Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina.
"It's a great day for our team, and for Sam and me," Mayrhofer said.
"Straight after the finish I was completely done, emotionally. I couldn't believe it."
Mayrhofer had a bloodied knee after crashing early in the 176.6km race in and around Geelong, but was on too much of a high to care.
"I'm still full of adrenalin and happiness, so at the moment I feel great," he said.
Belgian Dries Devenyns (Soudal Quick-Step), who won the last edition of the race in 2020, French rider Dorian Godon (AG2R) and British cyclist Ethan Hayter (Ineos) all needed medical treatment after crashing in the last kilometre.
It is understood one of the riders who fell has a suspected broken collarbone.
As they nursed their wounds, Mayrhofer celebrated with his parents Robert and Ute, who are holidaying in Australia.
It is the first time his parents have visited the country since the year before Mayrhofer was born.
Hugo Page of France (Intermarche) was second and Australia's Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) took third.
Clarke's team were demoted from the WorldTour after last season, so his podium result was valuable as well as a morale boost.
"I was quite surprised to come third, but it's also some great points for the team and we struggled with that last year," he said.
Once the race came down to a bunch sprint, it looked tailor-made for Matthews or Ewan to win.
But Mayrhofer timed his run perfectly and Matthews admitted he lacked the legs to pull off his first win of the season.
It has been a frustrating January for Matthews, who was well-placed at the Tour Down Under before a mechanical problem put him out of overall contention.
"I can't say much about today, my legs were absolutely horrible unfortunately," he said.
