Ewan in box seat, if history repeats
THE last time Caleb Ewan won the opening night Classic at the Tour Down Under he was unbeatable for the rest of the week, so when he saluted in the Adelaide East End last night it was an ominous sign to the peloton left in his wake.
Ewan made a perfect start with his new team (Lotto-Soudal) by winning the Down Under Classic in a bunched sprint reduced in size a series of late crashes but not without quality, with three-time world champion Peter Sagan second and former Australian champion Alex Edmondson third.
It was the third time Ewan has won the criterium – he won in 2016 and 2017, and in the latter he went on to win all four sprint stages of the TDU proper and sprint classification.
The 24-year-old lost some of his teammates in crashes on the last two laps that took down Italian rival Elia Viviani, but he still had Roger Kluge deliver him to the line perfectly and he was able to finish it off.
“It feels good, this was our first time riding together as a team, so we really couldn’t have asked for a better start,” Ewan said.
“There was a lot of pressure because you just don’t know how it’s going to start with a new team, especially with something like a lead-out that needs to evolve over time.
“It was pretty spot on, I had Roger (Kluge) there as my last man at the end and I got to sprint when I wanted to start.
“I’m honoured that he (Kluge) would come with me (to Lotto Soudal). It’s good to have someone who is familiar with the way I sprint and he knows what I like, so it makes that transition into a new team a bit easier.
“On a course like this, it’s really hard to have a whole leadout stay together because you have guys coming underneath in the corners and you’re constantly moving up, but I said to the guys just to get Roger and I into good position when we needed to be and they did that, so it was a perfect start.”
With the diminished field at the finish. Ewan said it was hard to gauge his form against all rivals but he was hopeful of a strong showing in the TDU starting tomorrow.
“It was a bit unfortunate there was a crash in the end because you want all the sprinters to be there,” Ewan said
“It’s hard to tell the indication against the other sprinters because some of them went down but my feelings were good and the team rode great.
“It’s such a strong sprint field here, probably the best they’ve had in a long time, so it definitely won’t be easy to win sprints when the Tour starts.”
Mitchelton-Scott star and new national time trial champion Luke Durbridge did not start as he recovers from gastro, but his team director, Matt White, said he would be right to start Stage 1 of the Tour.