Trek Factory Racing dusted off the last of its cobwebs Sunday evening in Adelaide as they raced the annual People's Choice Classic criterium ahead of the Tour Down Under. Australian Calvin Watson, racing in front of a home crowd, was quick to join a four-man break that escaped on lap 10 and led the peloton for most of the 30-lap, 51-kilometer race.

"That was hard! But it was nice to be out there in the first race of the season," he said.

"When the three guys got away and I saw the break forming I just seized the moment and rode across to them," continued Watson. "That really hurt but it was worth it. We made the breakaway happen and it was cool to show my face in front of a home crowd.”

Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge), Peter Kennaugh (Sky), and Dario Cataldo (Astana) initially traded hard pulls with Watson as the quartet built over 30 seconds advantage by the half way point, enough to put them out of sight on the short lap that took just over two minutes to complete.

However, they were never “out of mind” and finally relinquished to the peloton, a combination of motivated sprinters’ teams behind and their own self-inflicted demise by disrupting the breakaways rhythm with attacks. They were swallowed with eight laps to go.

"There was some interesting tactics going on because of the sprint primes and we all were pretty keen to win them," Watson said.

He added: "Not everyone was happy to work together, so there was a bit of cat-n-mouse going on. I think that was silly that that happened because we had a 40-second gap at one point and we might have held out there for a longer period, but once we started attacking each other it was game over.”

No team was able to fully control the frenzied last laps, but Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) still won handedly.  

Giacomo Nizzolo sprinted to 12th, and Marco Coledan was 18th in the chaotic finish to the fast, short race.

"I think that was not too bad for the first race. I had asked them to do some efforts just to get in some interval training, and what Calvin did was perfect," said sport director Kim Andersen.

"To show the team, and be in the race. It was a good start. Good for the team, and they were happy to get that first race underneath them."

Trek Factory Racing will enjoy a day of rest to prepare for the Santos Tour Down Under Tuesday, the first WorldTour event of 2015.