Australian cycling star Michael Matthews has survived a near-disaster to improve to second overall in the Tour Down Under.

Matthews was forced wide as he jostled for position inside the last couple of kilometres in the high-speed finish to stage one of the Santos Tour.

He also dropped his chain in the incident and nearly hit a parked car.

But Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) finished third behind stage winner, German Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Australian sprint ace Caleb Ewan (National Team).

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Matthews again showed on Wednesday he is a strong contender for the overall title.

He lost valuable seconds in Tuesday night’s prologue time-trial when he had to ride in the wet.

Matthews also picked up valuable time bonuses in Wednesday’s intermediate sprints in the 149.9-kilometre stage that started and finished at Tanunda in the Barossa Valley.

That meant he improved from 10th overall to second, only six seconds behind race leader, Italian Alberto Bettiol (EF Education).

“You sort of see your life flash before your eyes, but you can’t really think too much about it,” Matthews said of his close shave.

“You know what your job is, it’s to be there in the final.

“I knew I just had to get back onto the road, get my chain back on and get back to the front.”

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There were several crashes during the stage, which was held in unusually mild conditions for January in SA.

A crash inside the last kilometre split the bunch and several riders went down..

Robert Gesink (Jumbo-Visma) was the worst off when several riders crashed at 24 kilometres to go, with the Dutch rider hitting his head heavily on the road.

His team later announced he had withdrawn from the race.

French rider Nans Peters (Ag2r) launched a solo attack early in the stage and the peloton was happy to let him go.

He was caught as the pace ramped up for the second intermediate sprint, at 97.8 kilometres.

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Just as that happened, a crash at the back of the peloton took out several riders including Austrian Herman Pernsteiner (Bahrain Victorious) and Dutchman Sjoerd Bax (UAE Team Emirates), whose jersey was shredded at the back.

Matthews was runner-up in the two intermediate sprints.

In the 22 editions of the tour, eight of them have been decided by three seconds or less, so bonus seconds are always vital.

New Zealand rider Patrick Bevin (Team DSM) pulled out of the tour on Wednesday after he crashed during Saturday’s street race.