In a season that he is targeting a debut Milan-San Remo appearance and a return to the Giro d'Italia, Caleb Ewan opened his 2017 account at the Williamstown race of the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic to ensure he starts as favourite in the defence of his national criterium title Wednesday night in Ballarat.
The Orica-Scott rider crashed out of contention on stage 1 when he looked most likely to claim the win then went on the attack on stage 2 before taking the final day victory to ease the pressure ahead of the criterium and ensure back-to-back wins for his team after Michael Hepburn's Portarlington victory.
"Obviously coming into the last crit here, without a win yet, put a lot of pressure on this one, especially going into the national crit. It always helps a sprinter to have that confidence going into a big race. I'm super happy with how the team rode today. They were perfect," the 22-year-old said of his team after his 11th bay crits victory that elevated him into fourth place overall.
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With his primary focus on European goals later in the season, Ewan added that missing a third straight overall win won't be keeping him up at night.
"It would have been nice to do it, but at the end of the day, this is a small stepping stone going into the bigger races in the new year, so I'm not all that disappointed," said Ewan.
U23 criterium champion in 2014, elite men's runner-up in 2015 and champion in 2016, Ewan is no stranger when it comes to collecting medals and jerseys on Sturt St. With "all bases covered" ahead of the nationals, Ewan is not only looking for success in the 44km event but also Sunday's road race where he has proved he can handle the the hilly course with silver in 2015. However, Ewan wouldn't be drawn into prognosticating despite the confidence boosting victory.
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