Rohan Dennis wins maiden Tour Down Under amid crash carnage

Australian cyclist Rohan Dennis has won the Tour Down Under, beating compatriot Richie Porte by two seconds.

Dennis and Porte did not feature at the front of the finish of the last stage, meaning there was no change to the overall standings.

Dutch rider Wouter Wippert, riding for Australian team Drapac, won the stage with a well-timed sprint.

He took out the stage ahead of newly-crowned Australian road champion Heinrich Haussler.

The 90km stage was marred by a crash on the second-last lap that split the field.

Several Orica-GreenEDGE riders were among those caught in the pile-up in the middle of the peloton.

German sprint ace Marcel Kittel, one of the stage favourites, was also caught in the crash and so did not feature at the finish.

Dennis is the seventh Australian to win the Tour title.

He took the race lead on stage three and held on in Saturday's decisive Willunga stage.

Porte won at Willunga and Dennis finished nine seconds behind him, meaning he retained the lead by two seconds.

Dennis' BMC team-mate Cadel Evans finished third overall in his last top-level race before he ends his legendary cycling career on February 1.

Orica-GreenEDGE rider Daryl Impey secured the points classification when he won the sprint, eight laps into the 20-lap event.

A group of six riders broke clear immediately after that sprint and they built their lead to more than a minute.

But the sprinters' teams were never going to let a break stay away and the escape was caught with three laps left.

Italian Manuele Mori crashed on a corner during lap 16 and abandoned the race.