It’s not quite the Champs-Élysées, but for the tens of thousands who turned out for the final stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under on Sunday it was a race finale to rival anything on the world stage.

Not only did top sprinters Baden Cooke and Robbie McEwen take the top-two finish spots for the day, one of Adelaide's favorite sons, Patrick Jonker, duly bowed out a winner after a distinguished 14-year career in the pro ranks.

Jonker, 34, earmarked this year's event as his last as a professional cyclist, and in a fairytale ending he achieved a dream result.

For so long a domestique to the elite, Jonker's previous best result in a major international stage race was a 12th in the 1996 Tour de France. With fellow South Australian Stuart O'Grady missing this year, Jonker took it upon himself to step into the breach to try to deliver a hometown victory. And he did it in style.

Adopting more aggressive tactics, Jonker attacked on the opening road stage on Tuesday to set up his victory, and then followed it up with another aggressive ride the next day.

Cooke and McEwen - a familiar battle

With a solid buffer of 1:39, he and his UniSA teammates were then able to dictate terms for the remainder of the event.

On Saturday, fellow South Australian Luke Roberts helped Jonker negotiate a testing 3km climb to the top of Old Willunga Hill, and he went into Sunday's final stage - an 81km criterium in Adelaide's Central Business District - with a healthy 1:34 advantage.

Only a major catastrophe would have stopped him keeping the leader's yellow jersey to the end, but the man himself refused to accept the inevitable until the final lap of the 4.5km circuit.

“You could puncture, you could crash, you're never sure of victory,” Jonker said. “It's not over until you cross the line and when I got under that last kilometer, I took it easy, I knew it was all over then.

“I've won stage races in Europe before but this is the most important because it's (in front of) my home crowd. It's where I started riding my bike when I was 12 years old, and now I'm officially retired and in the yellow jersey, so I couldn't have dreamed up a better scenario.”

Jonker acknowledged the work of his teammates; the first time a composite outfit – this time sponsored by the University of South Australia - has prevailed in the six-year history of the event, in winning by 1:13 from McEwen.

“The team did a fantastic job,” he said. “Everyone was nervous this morning because in bike racing you can lose it in the last 5km and things turned out well; they didn't have any bad luck.

“I'm extremely satisfied the way it has ended. I've had some bad luck, some bad moments, but this makes up for it.”

Jonker glides into retirement

Photo: Graham Watson

Cooke could also thank his FDJeux.com teammates for his success, and said he learned from last year when he finished second to Graeme Brown in the final stage.

“I was hoping I wasn't seeing déjà vu because twice in the last two years the team's done absolutely perfect lead-outs with Brad McGee and the other boys and both times I ran second,” he said. “I was just hoping to God I wasn't going to get the same lead-out and get the same position.

“The last few years I hit out from the bottom of the dip and just got run over at the end, and this year I left if about 50m longer.”

Cooke said he looked on Jonker as a mentor and always sought his advice when riding overseas.

“In the last few years whenever I've seen Patty he's been in smaller teams but I remember what he's done in the past,” he said. “And even racing against each other he's always given me advice or said 'Cookie, I think you're doing this wrong' or `You need to do this with your team.’

“I think he would be a great director for a team; he's got a lot of experience and someone who's got a huge amount of knowledge about the sport.”