To win the 174 kilometre race that began and finished in Geelong, Arndt beat Australian duo Simon Gerrans and Cameron Meyer who took a close second and third place respectively.

“I thought it is not possible to come back, but I just didn’t stop fighting and I just pushed,” said Arndt, whose victory was also the first for his German team, Team Sunweb this season.

“I saw a teammate after the last climb, Wilko Kelderman.

“He pushed me and he was there doing a big, big pull and I thought, ‘Okay if he did such a big pull you also have to come back, you cannot give up now’.

“I continued and suddenly, I have to say, the group in front slowed down a little bit and that was to my advantage to come back.”

With the climbers unable to gain any real ground on the rest of the field during the climb, the large leading group saw late attacks from Richie Porte, Nathan Haas, Chris Froome and Rafa Valls before the sprinters moved into gear in the latter stages.

Meyer had made a bold solo bid for victory with 600 metres remaining but Arndt managed to reel him in and snatch victory metres from the line with a well-timed late sprint.

Gerrans also got the better of Meyer to grab second place.

Porte, who was successful in the Tour Down Under earlier this month on home soil, finished in 21st while three-times Tour de France champion Froome failed to sustain his lone charge for victory and crossed the line in 49th place in his first race of the season.