Jayco Herald Sun Tour: First professional win for Ewan in Nagambie

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A hot Friday afternoon in Nagambie was the setting of Caleb Ewan's (Orica-GreenEdge) first professional victory. Having won three stages at the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic last month, Ewan was the fastest after the 117km stage ahead of Steele von Hoff (KordaMentha Australia) and Sam Witmitz (Budget Forklifts).

A crash in the final 20m of the stage was the result of Witmitz's knee and Brenton Jones' (Drapac) handlebars touching, bringing down Jones who slid across the finish in fifth place. Jones referred to it as a "racing incident, it's just the joys of sprinting" and will asses his injuries in the morning before deciding whether to continue in the race.

Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge) finished safely in the bunch to retain the overall lead.

"I think with ten km to go, all the lead out trains started to go to the front and we sat back and waited a bit, watching it all happening on the right hand side of the road," Ewan told reporters after his win. "When everyone started to die down little bit, maybe a kilometre before the corner [with 400m to go] we came to the front and drilled it.

"We were being challenged down the back straight here but our guys were pretty fresh and we hit out into the final corner and I came round in good position and won from there."

Yesterday it was Meyer winning in Bendigo and opening GreenEdge's account and as he prophesised, once the ball was rolling it was quickly up to speed with Ewan nabbing a second straight stage win.

"After nationals and not winning and then going to Cadel's race and not even finishing, I felt a bit of pressure today to get a good result and definitely win," Ewan said. "It's sort of a relief to come across the line first and a lot of pressure is lifted of your shoulders.

"Hopefully we have the same scenario as today and we can do a good lead out and hopefully go for another stage win today."

Starting on the Tom Flood Velodrome in Bendigo, the host of the annual madison event, the peloton completed three laps of the track before heading out of the city. When the race director dropped the flag to signify the neutral zone complete and racing had commenced, the peloton's speed quickly reached a speed that hovered around the 60km/h mark as the day's breakaway was trying to get established.

The teams which missed out on the break yesterday, African Wildlife Safaris, Data #3, CharterMason and JTL Condor, were active on the front as they attempted to get their riders clear.

Puncturing just before the first sprint point of the race at just 5.7km, Harry Carpenter was forced to chase hard as the pace was upped. Craig Evers (Data #3) crossed the line first ahead of Joel Strachan (Navitas Satalyst Racing Team) as riders continued to get the break established.

Tom Moses (JTL Condor) tried to get away but Drapac and UnitedHealthcare were covering the move until happy with the complexion of the break.

The aggressive opening to the stage continued until the 42km mark when Tyler Farrar (MTN-Qhubeka), Will Clarke (Drapac) and Michael Cumming (JTL Condor) were allowed to get free. The trio established a 1:19 minute advantage at the first and only KOM point of the day three kilometres later with Farrar taking the maximum points.

The leader's advantage grew to a maximum of 2:49 minutes when they came through for the second sprint point of the day in Heathcote with Farrar leading them across the line with no contest.

From Heathcote, it was dry sparse kangaroo country on offer scenically with little change in the landscape and race situation.

Inside the 40km, the peloton started to bring the break back closer to two minutes with UnitedHealthcare doing the majority of the pace setting. 10km later and the gap continued to fall and the speed of the chase was being felt up front with Cumming unable to continue was absorbed by the peloton.

Inside the final 20km, the gap was at a sole minute and the break was doomed despite the best efforts of Clarke and Farrar, with the American claiming the most aggressive jersey. The duo were reeled in and soft pedalled home as the last two finishers, missing the spill and Ewan's first win in front of the Black Caviar statue on the banks of Lake Nagambie.

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