Caleb Ewan sprints to win at men's Schwalbe Classic Tour Down Under opener

Caleb Ewan (Australia national team) won his third Schwalbe Classic in a row on Saturday, with the criterium returning after a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Australian sprinter got the better of Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in the sprint finish to the Adelaide race.

Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Marius Mayrhofer (Team DSM) rounded out the top five in a fast finish to the hour-and-a-lap-long race held on a 1.35km through the streets of the city's central business district.

Ewan, racing in Australian colours rather than those of his trade team Lotto-Dstny, was comfortably the quickest finisher from the massed peloton after the sprint squads brought the breakaway back late on in the race.

"I really like racing with a young team and sometimes with older pros they just kind of turn up," Ewan said after the finish. "My team was quite good in the crit and it's going to be a big learning curve for them.

"I hope I can help with their development and help them with WorldTour and help them be part of that journey."

A late crash saw Patrick Bevin (Team DSM) collide with the roadside barriers and somersault out of the race at the front of the peloton just as the break of the day was in the process of being caught just a handful of laps from the finish.

The incident didn't hinder the fastmen just metres behind, though, with Ewan, Meeus, Groves and the rest coming through unscathed to battle over the win later on.

The break group had made their way off the front of the peloton midway through the race, with Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers) and Lucas Hamilton (Jayco-AlUla) among the riders having gone on the attack earlier on.

A group of six then went on the attack, with Hamilton joined out front by Jannik Steimle (Soudal-QuickStep), Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost), Sven Erik Bystrøm (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ), and Michael Gogl (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

The break never had a huge gap on the short circuit, however, and despite more riders flowing back and forth to the front – including Bevin – the race always looked set to conclude with a fight to the line among the quickest finishers.

That proved to be the case, with Ewan leading from the front to claim his first – albeit unofficial – victory of the 2023 season from Meeus.

"It's a bit of a shame to finish a close second in a bunch sprint, but it's not a bad result to start the season like that," Meeus said later on. "We knew Caleb would be one of the big favourites tonight, but he's not here with his usual team, rather with the national squad.

"So we didn't quite know which team would control the race. As expected, a small group went clear and we then had Marco Haller at the front, which was perfect for us. The other guys executed our plan well and supported me as much as possible. In the end, my positioning could have perhaps been a bit better, but second place is not so bad in the end."

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