Caleb Ewan strikes first in Tour Down Under Criterium

Report

Caleb Ewan made a perfect start to his second season with Lotto Soudal, taking his fourth victory in five editions of the Tour Down Under Classic criterium with a convincing sprint in Adelaide, despite rain showers and wet roads affecting the race.

The Australian anticipated and launched his sprint as EF Pro Cycling were leading out Kristoffer Halvorsen. He opened up a considerable margin over the rest, with Elia Viviani coming through to take second place on his debut for Cofidis.

It was Viviani's own lead-out man, Simone Consonni, who held on for the final spot on the podium, finishing ahead of Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates), Halvorsen, and young Italian Alberto Dainese (Team Sunweb).

Sam Bennett made a disappointing debut for Deceuninck-QuickStep, finding himself too far back in the final straight. He eased up and shook his head, leaving lead-out man Michael Morkov to take seventh, ahead of Australian Criterium champion Sam Welsford, Chris Lawless (Team Ineos), and Giacomo Nizzolo of NTT Pro Cycling. 

"I started this season with a bit of pressure to replicate what I did last year," Ewan said, having won 10 races in 2019, including three stages of the Tour de France. 

"This was my first race of the season - usually I do some races before - but I felt really good out there."

There were some question marks when Ewan was seen at the back of the peloton for much of the race, but he insisted it was a sign of how relaxed he was. With 20 of the 30 laps of the 1.7km circuit covered, he moved up towards the front, as Team Ineos pushed the pace. 

Manuele Boaro (Astana) had been a constant attacking presence from the start, slotting in to a six-man break before trying to go solo from five laps out, but the sprint teams weren't going to make any mistake. The rain grew harder and a small crash with three laps to go split the peloton and sparked tension.

From that point, EF Pro Cycling took control of the race for Halvorsen, but while he was still being led out, Ewan sprang out on the right-hand side of the road to deliver a commanding victory by a few bike lengths. 

"On the last six or seven laps, it started to rain, and that made it a lot more nervous in the bunch," Ewan said. 

"My team did a great job to help me stay in the front through all the fighting for position. Roger [Kluge] left that gap for me in the final straight there and that gave me a really good launching pad."

The six-stage Tour Down Under begins proper on Tuesday with the 150km circuit stage around Tanunda.  

Results

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Results
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 1:04:29
2Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis Solutions Credits
3Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis Solutions Credits
4Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
5Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) EF Pro Cycling
6Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team Sunweb
7Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
8Sam Welsford (Aus) UniSA-Australia
9Chris Lawless (GBr) Team Ineos
10Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
11Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal
12Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team
13Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
14Martin Laas (Est) Bora-Hansgrohe
15Jens Keukeleire (Bel) EF Pro Cycling
16Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-QuickStep
17Erik Ba_ka (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:04
18André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
19Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
20Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:06
21Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Movistar Team
22Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
23Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
24Tom Scully (NZl) EF Pro Cycling
25Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
26Ryan Gibbons (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling
27Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
28Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb
29Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren
30Jarrad Drizners (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:00:12
31Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
32Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
33Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
34Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:00:16
35Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:24
36Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-QuickStep
37Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:00:32
38Marco Haller (Aut) Bahrain McLaren 0:00:37
39Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:00:43
40Jonas Rutsch (Ger) EF Pro Cycling 0:00:46
41Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Pro Cycling 0:00:48
42Kelland O'Brien (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:00:58
43Kenneth Van Bilsen (Bel) Cofidis Solutions Credits 0:01:04
44Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis Solutions Credits
45Rasmus Fossum Tiller (Nor) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:13
46Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:01:20
47Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
48Danilo Wyss (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling
49Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
50Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team
51Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team
52Juri Hollmann (Ger) Movistar Team
53Marco Mathis (Ger) Cofidis Solutions Credits
54Samuele Battistella (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
55Luis Mas (Spa) Movistar Team
56Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) CCC Team
57_ukasz Wi_niowski (Pol) CCC Team
58Neilson Powless (USA) EF Pro Cycling
59Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
60Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
61Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
62Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain McLaren
63Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain McLaren 0:01:24
64Joey Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:01:25
65Santiago Buitrago Sanchez (Col) Bahrain McLaren
66Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) Movistar Team
67Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Lotto Soudal
68Stefan De Bod (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling
69Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cofidis Solutions Credits
70Florian Stork (Ger) Team Sunweb
71Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
72João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep
73Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
74Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
75Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
76Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale
77Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation
78Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
79Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
80Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
81Cameron Scott (Aus) UniSA-Australia
82Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team
83Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
84James Piccoli (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation
85Ide Schelling (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe
86Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
87Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team
88Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
89Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
90Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team
91Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team
92Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana Pro Team
93Tyler Lindorff (Aus) UniSA-Australia
94Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
95Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
96Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
97Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos 0:01:46
98Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:02:01
99Rafael Valls (Spa) Bahrain McLaren
100Nicholas White (Aus) UniSA-Australia
101Dylan Sunderland (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling
102Samuel Jenner (Aus) UniSA-Australia
103Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
104Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott
105Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
106Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain McLaren
107Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
108Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
109Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Ineos
110Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos 0:02:13
111Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
112Michel Ries (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:32
113Juan Pedro Lopez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
114Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
115Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
116Mickaël Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
117Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:02:41
118Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
119Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:43
120Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Pro Cycling
121Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Ineos
122Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Ineos
123Rohan Dennis (Aus) Team Ineos 0:02:45
124Alexandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates
125Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:02:48
126Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
127Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
128Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:03:17
DNFLuke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
DNFLucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
DNFMichael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
DNFCameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
DNFMathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Credits
DNFMikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates
DNFMax Kanter (Ger) Team Sunweb
DNFMarc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNFGeorge Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
DNFChris Harper (Aus) Team Jumbo-Visma
DNFLennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
DNFAntwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma

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Stephen Farrand
Head of News

Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.

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