2015 Australian championship silver medalist Caleb Ewan has shown another string to his bow, finishing second on the 2.1km opening Jayco Herald Sun Tourprologue this evening.

Introduced at last year’s event, the twilight central-city race against the clock again attracted big post-work Melbourne crowds along the famous Yarra River who were treated to another great cycling spectacle.

ORICA-GreenEDGE looked promising throughout proceedings with New Zealand’sSam Bewley and 2014 national time trial champion Michael Hepburn also gracing the top-three hot seats at various times.

Ewan posted the fastest time of two minutes 36:42 with 15 still to ride before fifth last rider, Will Clarke (Drapac Pro Cycling), bettered the time by less than one second. ORICA-GreenEDGE finished with four in the top ten with Bewley fourth, Hepburn sixth and defending champion Simon Clarke in seventh.

“I knew a short prologue like this could suit me and it turned out that it did suit me pretty well,” Ewan said.

“Into the last one and a half kilometres there were a few corners but nothing too serious. They were not corners that you lose too much time in so I think with a course like that it really suits a powerful guy like Will so he was always going to be hard to beat.

“From here I will probably go into a support role for Clarkey for the overall but hopefully there are a few stages that suit me as well.

"When we are the only WorldTour team here, we are expected to do well and win overall so it's always going to be hard, especially with six guys. It will be tough but I think we can handle it."

"Tyler Farrar and Matt Goss are always going to be quick and they are guys who ride the Tour de France," Ewan said of who sees as his sprint rivals. "Steele von Hoff is going really well also and Brenton showed he has good form so there are a few good sprinters here and it’s going to be pretty tough."

Despite yet another second place for the Australian season, sport director Matt Wilson said the team was off to a good start for the five-day Tour.

“Obviously it’s a second place again, we have had a string of them this summer which is always frustrating, but it definitely shows the guys are in really good form going into the rest of the Tour.

“Our general classification guys in Cameron Meyer and Simon Clarke are also around the mark with the other GC guys so that’s a good step too.”

“It went well,” the Vuelta a Espana stage winner said. “I was hoping for a little bit better but at least I didn’t get any worse.

“My goal was to finish ahead of the GC guys and put as much time into them as I could. As far as I could see, the only real threat was Will Clarke who obviously won today and had a super ride.”

Tomorrow’s first road stage will travel 146.2km from Mt Macedon to Bendigo and include climbs at Mount Macedon and Mount Alexander before a fast finish towards a local six-kilometre circuit in central Bendigo.