Sam Welsford and Beulah Hansgrohe dominate the sprint in the Tour Down Under.

The Australian took his second medal of the men's race on Thursday with about half the bike distance separating him from the rest of the field, with time to spare to glance back to the pack.

This result was pre-determined and carefully constructed.

Mentality is important in sprinting. Accepting that your rivals are stronger than you can lose the race before it even starts.

Welsford and Beulah Hansgrohe had that advantage on Thursday from Tea Tree Gully to Campbeltown, 145.3 km. There was much discussion in and out of the peloton about the competition for his wheel, rather than concentrating on the actual finish line where the winner would be decided.

It's a huge tribute to the Australian, who turned 28 on Friday and is juggling road work and winning Olympic gold medals on the track this year. Despite the fact that Welsford just joined the German team in 2024, he has the best lead-out train and is the fastest in the sprint to the line.

Teammate and impressive lead-out man Danny van Poppel compared Welsford's power to Kittel and Greipel. Even Caleb Yuan (Jayco Arla) was looking for his wheels on stage 3, as were Elia Viviani and others.

"I've always wanted to be the best sprinter in the world.

"I still think Caleb is one of the best sprinters in the world. In our day, all the top sprinters in the world are very close. You can see that most of the sprints are now concentrated in this bike throw.

"We won two races here because all the leadouts were really good. Not every day is perfect. Tomorrow, the next sprint day, maybe we'll get chopped out, maybe we'll lose a wheel.

The intricacies of a successful lead-out train can take months or even years to knead and confirm. But Welsford got to work with players like Danny Van Poppel and Ryan Mullen as quickly as he could kick it.

"With those guys leading the way, it's almost hard not to get it going," Uelsford says. [They are fully backing me in my first year, let alone my first month on the team. It's really great to have that kind of cooperation so early in the season."

"I had some instructions on when to move and when not to move, but with Danny and Ryan in front of me, I can turn my head off. They are very smart and they are on the same wavelength with everything we do."

Van Poppel and Mullen have worked with Irish champion and former Tour de France green jersey winner Sam Bennett (who moved from Beulah Hansgrohe to Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale this season) and are well trained

Bora-Hansgrohe sent Bernhard Eisel and Shane Archibald to the Tour Down Under, both of whom had important racing careers as Cavendish and Bennett's lieutenants during their working careers.

"To come together as a team and win two stages in the first race of the season is very special.

"We are looking at really big goals this year, so this is a good stepping stone for the Grand Tours and big one-day races.