Magnus Sheffield stayed out of trouble amid a hectic finale to secure seventh place overall at the Tour Down Under.
The INEOS Grenadiers were able to rally around the American to keep him well positioned across the 20-lap stage on the streets of Adelaide.
Sheffield would avoid a late crash and cross the line in 16th place, doing enough to retain his overnight position and kick off the season with a WorldTour top 10.
Sam Watson was piloted into a great position to contest the sprint on the final lap, but was left with nowhere to go with a crash directly in front of him. Happily the Brit emerged relatively unscathed, with a bruise to the knee and some minor skin loss.
Following victory 24 hours earlier atop Willunga Hill, the overall win went to Jhonatan Narvaez (Team UAE Emirates – XRG), by a margin of nine seconds. Sam Welsford (Red Bull – BORA – Hansgrohe) secured the sprint and a third stage win of the event.
A three-man breakaway of Kelland O’Brien (Jayco AlUla), Casper Pedersen (Soudal – Quick-Step) and Damien Howson (Australia) pushed out on front early on, and in doing so soaked up the mid-stage bonus seconds.
Lucas Hamilton and Connor Swift hit the front late on to set the pace, with Michal Kwiatkowski leading the peloton over the line at the bell with an impressive display on the run-in.
Tour Down Under
Stage 6-
1Sam Welsford Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe01:53:14
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2Bryan Coquard Cofidis+ 00
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3Phil Bauhaus Bahrain Victorious+ 00
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16Magnus Sheffield INEOS Grenadiers+ 00
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81Ben Swift INEOS Grenadiers+ 00
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99Michal Kwiatkowski INEOS Grenadiers+ 00
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100Connor Swift INEOS Grenadiers+ 00
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130Geraint Thomas INEOS Grenadiers+ 04:08
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131Lucas Hamilton INEOS Grenadiers+ 00
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132Sam Watson INEOS Grenadiers+ 00
Tour Down Under
Overall Rankings (Stage 6)-
1Jhonatan Narvaez UAE Team Emirates19:19:16
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2Javier Romo Movistar Team+ 09
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3Finn Fisher-Black Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe+ 12
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7Magnus Sheffield INEOS Grenadiers+ 27
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52Michal Kwiatkowski INEOS Grenadiers+ 08:21
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65Lucas Hamilton INEOS Grenadiers+ 12:19
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66Connor Swift INEOS Grenadiers+ 12:19
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77Sam Watson INEOS Grenadiers+ 14:28
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78Ben Swift INEOS Grenadiers+ 14:47
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129Geraint Thomas INEOS Grenadiers+ 34:53