Caleb Ewan wins Down Under Classic

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Caleb Ewan has continued his winning start to the 2016 season, delivering on his pre-race favourite tag to claim victory in the Down Under Classic, a bike length ahead of Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) and Adam Blythe (Tinkoff).

Orica-GreenEdge controlled the majority of the 51km Adelaide criterium with Darly Impey playing the role of lead out man for the 21-year-old who now has five wins from seven starts this year.

“It’s always hard going into a race as a favourite and especially when there is such a tough field here,” Ewan said in his post-race interview. “I was probably more nervous for today than I have been for any of the other race so far.

“My team just rode perfectly. We sat back for a lot of the race and cruised around. And they were awesome. Once you need to go to the front, they kept me up there and led me out perfectly.”

In the final ten laps of the race, Team Sky, with Geraint Thomas and Peter Kennaugh, came to the fore with the aim of securing victory for Ben Swift. The move would prove premature though as their riders dropped away in the final laps as Cannondale, IAM Cycling and Trek-Segafredo all moved forward.

A fast final sprint was kicked-off by Nizzolo, with Ewan appearing to be boxed in, but the Australian national criterium champion quickly jumped on his wheel, then passed the Italian, winning by a bike length. Tinkoff’s aggressive racing was rewarded with Blythe’s third place as Swift crossed the line in fourth, followed by Marko Kump in fifth to start his Lampre-Merida career.

“You get a bit messy in the end because it is hard for the team to take control of the front the whole time and I think IAM were sitting back a bit and they did it pretty well,” Ewan said of finding his way through the finish to claim victory. “We just jumped on them and Daryl did a perfect lead-out in the end.

“I did feel pretty confident. I didn’t see Trek come until the last two hundred metres,” he added. “My biggest concern at the time was Pelucchi because he had a pretty strong lead out in the end but I could see him really dying on the wheel.

“So I felt good in the last lap and … yeah, I could sprint really well in the end.”

See also:

• Full Tour Down Under coverage
  
• Tour Down Under: New bikes and equipment in the peloton - Gallery
  
• 2016 Tour Down Under race preview

With Orica-GreenEdge now turning its attention to winning stages with Ewan and a fourth overall title with Simon Gerrans, Ewan explained his victory is no pressure valve relief on the team who are hungry for more wins.

“I don’t think a more relaxed approach. Obviously we have got ambition to win the GC and I have got ambitions to win stages myself,” Ewan said. “So it’s the start of a long week.”

The Down Under Classic was kicked off with a Lars Boom (Astana) attack which precipitated a fast start to the race with the first ten laps raced at an average speed of 51km/h. AG2R-La Mondiale, Tinkoff and UniSA sent several riders up the road in an attempt to establish a breakaway as Orica-GreenEdge patrolled the front of the peloton.

A late move by Christophe Riblon (Ag2r), Martin Velits (Etixx-Quick Step) and Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff) was swallowed up with just a handful of laps as the sprinter teams then took over and the inventible sprint finish was won in a canter by the pre-race favourite.

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