BMC Racing Team's Rohan Dennis won the Santos Tour Down Under Sunday while teammate Cadel Evans finished third in the final WorldTour race of his career.

Dennis secured a two-second victory over Richie Porte (Team Sky) while Evans was a further 18 seconds back in his second-to-last race before retirement. The all-Australian podium was only the second in the race's 17-year history.

"It is an incredible feeling to win the Santos Tour Down Under,” Dennis said. “Doing it with Cadel during his last WorldTour race took a lot of pressure off me. But I was not comfortable at all in this last stage."

Dennis said he had to stay vigilant during the 20-lap, 90-kilometer circuit race through the streets of Adelaide. But his only brush with danger in the stage won by Wouter Wippert (Drapac Professional Cycling) came when a pile-up happened behind him with fewer than two laps to go.

"I had to make sure I kept within distance of Richie, especially after that little spill," Dennis said. "It was all about following him and making sure there if there was a split, it was not too hard to jump across and making sure there were no splits in the finish.

"It's a really special moment. It's the first race of the year and puts BMC on top of the world rankings and for myself, home town, home country. To take the win is a dream come true.

"It does a lot - obviously I didn't target this race, I targeted the nationals time trial. I really did come here and go to the nationals (road race) to support Cadel. I've been training on the track ... and that seems to help here. So to be able to perform on the road when I've been doing track work is a huge confidence boost.

"I'm already starting to think about the Hour Record. I can't have too many drinks tonight. I have to keep a lid on it (and) really concentrate on my recovery over the next weeks.

"The Tour is one of my goals, to start. Obviously it's a big program just before, so it all depends on how I actually manage it. I'd love to go there and finish and actually be able to contribute to the team a little bit more.

"It's never happened before - I can say I'm the best in the world until the next WorldTour race. I will milk that for all I can, because it's not going to last too much longer."

“It puts BMC on the top of the WorldTour ranking and for myself hometown, home country, to take the win is a dream come true. I think the pressure hasn’t been on me all week and I probably have to thank Cadel for that, and obviously the team as well. It was really easy for me, I could sit in the background and have no pressure for the whole week. It made my life a lot easier.

"Basically [Evans] he just said follow me. He said 'just keep following me'. He took me and obviously he was staying close to Richie as well as making sure that he held time. I have all the faith in the world in him – he’s the most experienced rider in this bunch, I think.

"When we go down the street for a coffee everyone harasses him and makes it a lot easier for me. There’s a lot of less pressure. In general, even if I was leading the race, they still wanted to talk to him – so I could just walk around in the background and not have too much pressure which was absolutely perfect for me."

Dennis seized the overall lead on Stage 3 Thursday, attacking in the final kilometer of an uphill finish. He kept his grip on it by finishing runner-up to Porte on Saturday's finish at Old Willunga Hill. Sunday, he hoisted his BMC teammachine SLR01 overhead on the podium to the cheers of the crowd before accepting the race leader's ochre jersey.

“For Rohan, this is the beginning of a career," BMC Racing Team President/General Manager Jim Ochowicz said. "This is his first big win as a pro, and to have it be a WorldTour event says even more. He went against a real seasoned rider, Richie Porte, to fight the fight. That was a great sign for the future. 

"A big part of his conditioning right now is that he has been working hard since the Worlds in September where he was world champion in the team time trial. He has continued that training throughout, knowing that he was going to be attempting the World Hour Record in February and it helped him prepare for this race physically and mentally. He is obviously going to come out of this race with a lot of confidence and for an Hour Record in the design that we try to formulate for this coming event, he now has not just the legs but also the confidence to suffer through that Hour attempt and hopefully break the record.

“We came here for Cadel. He tried, he got third; but Rohan was just better.

"It says a lot for the team coming into the 2015 season. Having two riders highly places and winning the race and a stage during the opening WorldTour race of the season here in Adelaide means a lot to us as an organization in terms of what I think we did in the off-season to prepare for the start of the new season. Obviously the results speak for themselves. It goes a lot deeper than that. I know that the team overall in general is on par with the group that is here. The cool thing about this race is that the 7 riders who started this race for us, rode the whole week, every kilometre, all the way from start to finish as a group together. I think that camaraderie and team spirit were shown throughout the week. For me as a general manager, it is an important factor as we go into the new season.

"It's an evolution. Cadel is always a tough competitor. He went to his Tour de France legs for this race because it was his last race and he wanted to do well. He did great, fantastic. His leadership throughout the week really helped the other guys, including Rohan, to perform to the best of their abilities. It is a tough position for us all to be in because we know that we won't see Cadel do this again, at least at the ProTour level. He has made good decisions throughout his career and also in this time in his life. Now we go off to see what we can do with our young friend Rohan Dennis in the future. Hopefully, he will go on to take more good results this year."

Evans, runner-up to Simon Gerrans by one second here a year ago and 2011 Tour de France champion and 2009 world road champion, said he continues to surprise himself in the closing days of a professional road racing career that began in 2001.

"To go out on the podium – not quite at the top, top – I think puts me at No. 3 ranked in the world," Evans said. "To bow out of cycling at that level is probably a little bit more than I hoped. Most of all, I have been here as an optimal teammate and to pass on the baton to the next generation of riders and to bring Rohan here in the jersey and the lead.

"Like it says on my bike, I will be forever grateful for all that cycling has given me. It has given me a lot of hard lessons, a lot of harsh experiences, a few bangs along the road and quite a few days in hospital over the years, but it has given me so much pleasure. I have met so many wonderful people. I have come to so many wonderful places in this sport … so much more than I ever hoped for. Thank you everyone.

"One more race: the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road race. I hope to have an event that fits in nicely with the Tour Down Under [that] will make cycling [a] bigger [and] even better event in the Australian summer for an international scene here in Australia, a bit more than what we already have now.

"It's probably for me [a chance to] give back to the sport that has given me so much over the years – [it's] the best way I can go out of the sport. And as a sports person, to have an event named after you while you are still alive is something."

Helping Dennis and Evans reach the podium were teammates Silvan Dillier, Michael Schär, Peter Stetina and Danilo Wyss. Another teammate, Campbell Flakemore, was lost to a broken collarbone suffered in a crash Wednesday on the ride back to the team's hotel after Stage 2.

Dennis has enjoyed a bevy of success since joining the BMC Racing Team last August in a rare, mid-season transfer. In September, he was third in the final time trial at the Vuelta a España, then helped the BMC Racing Team win the world team time trial championship in Ponferrada, Spain. He was runner-up to Porte earlier this month in the Australian national time trial championships and next month will try to better the world hour record at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland.

“I was following Richie Porte in the sprints in case he'd go for the (time) bonus but I didn't have to worry because my team rode awesome.

"They sat at the front. They made sure I was out of the wind. Even when I got pushed back someone always dropped back to pull me back forward. They really helped me win this and made it a lot easier."