Ewan throws down gauntlet to peloton
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 warning to the peloton left in his wake.
Ewan made a perfect start to life with his new team (Lotto-soudal) by winning the Down Under Classic in a bunch sprint that was reduced in size due to a series of late crashes but not lacking any 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 following victories in 2016 and 2017, and that year he went on to win all four sprint stages of the TDU proper and the sprint classification.
The 24-year-old lost some of his teammates in crashes on the last two laps, which 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 leadout 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 lead-out 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 of his rivals but he was hopeful of a strong showing in the TDU, which starts with Stage 1 from North Adelaide to Port Adelaide on Tuesday.
The temperature is forecast to hit 41C tomorrow but Stage 1 (132km) will be held as normal.
Stage 2, however, has been reduced by 26.9km to 122km with 40C predicted for the trip to Angaston in the Barossa.
THERE WAS A LOT OF PRESSURE BECAUSE YOU JUST DON’T KNOW HOW IT’S GOING TO START WITH A NEW TEAM CALEB EWAN