The Inverell-raised cyclist is looking forward to 2020 in the black and blue of NTT Pro Cycling, after riding for them for the first time in the Tour Down Under.

"Yeah lots of things learnt this week, it was quite an experience so it makes me look forward to the rest of the year," Sunderland said after the Tour finish on Sunday afternoon.

The 23-year-old finished the notorious Willunga Hill stage in 12^th position, after taking off in the break at the start with a group of 25 other riders.

The breakaway was eventually whittled down on the final lap up Willunga, and Sunderland gave it everything up the famous climb, overtaken by eventual tour winner, Richie Porte, and stage winner, Matthew Holmes.

"Once we got to 10km to go with two minutes [in front, I think everyone was saying 'righto, yeah we can do this', so that was quite nice," Sunderland said.

Sunderland admitted it was "quite an aggressive start" to the stage, but then when the breakaway took off he "slipped into it".

"Yeah, [I] took it quite easy for most of the day which was the instructions form Lars [team manager] and gave it everything for the last lap up the climb and finished 12th, so quite happy with that," he said.

Sunderland finished 63^rd over in the tour, just under 11 minutes behind Porte. But there's no time to rest or put the feet up for Inverell's favourite rider.

He will now leave South Australia for Victoria, turning his attention to the Cadel Evans Road Race on Sunday.

The 171-km race around the Great Ocean Road area will start and finish in Geelong.