All seemed well for the Tour Down Under when Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) put his sleeves on the ochre leader's jersey on stage 2, but on the tough climb of the Corkscrew Road on stage 3, the Australian's second WorldTour race His chase for his second overall win in the Australian WorldTour race suddenly came crashing down.

He was forced to swap bikes and chase on the second and final climb of the day, Checkers.

"My gear got stuck. I knew I couldn't go on like this for the last 40 km," Dennis told Cycling News just before the finish.

The 2015 winner rejoined the pack before the crucial final climb of Friday's race, but his efforts clearly took a toll.

He struggled to advance to the front of the pack in a race that was inevitably going to be attacked by climbing rivals such as Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) and Simon Yates (Jayco Alura).

"Nothing happened," Dennis said.

"I used one bullet coming back from a bike change just before the checkered flag, and they hit me on top of that bullet and I was dead.

"I finally told Milan (Bader)." He said, "Look, take care of yourself, and whatever happens to me, I'll be there if my legs are good.

Dennis could only stare as the ochre jersey and podium spot he had targeted before the race slipped away. He finished 47th, 1:24 behind stage 3 winner Pero Bilbao.

He dropped to 33rd overall, 1:25 behind race leader Bain.

"My head wanted to go, but my legs said it was over," Dennis shrugged. Dennis shrugged.

"I'm very disappointed to lose the jersey.

What does this competition mean for Dennis and Jumbo Visma? There is a 133.2-km sprinters' stage to Willunga Township on Saturday and the 112.5-km Mount Lofty Finale on Sunday.

"Regroup," Dennis said.

"Obviously the GC will be over. There are still two stages. There are still two more stages.

"It's going to be a sprint tomorrow, so I'm going to try to help Tim [van Dijk] and Timo [Roosen], and if they want to go cruising, we all lose a little bit of time and it will make it easier to get into the break on Mount Lofty day.