At 20-years of age Caleb Ewan continues to make the world of cycling sit up and listen, taking his third victory in as many starts and cementing his series lead at the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic today.
This afternoon’s victory in Portarlington, on a course expected to be more suited to endurance riders, has many again comparing Ewan to Australian superstar Robbie McEwen.
But another victory tomorrow could put the youngster in a class of his own as the first rider to achieve a clean sweep of races at any one Bay Classic.
Humble in victory Ewan was again thankful for the work of his teammates, which he acknowledged makes his job a lot easier.
“I am a little bit (surprised),” Ewan said of his form. “You never know how your form is going to be coming into the first part of the year.”
“I found this stage tougher (than yesterday) because even if you’re sitting on the wheel you can’t hide from the hills so it was really tough for me.
“But the main reason is because I have such a strong team here. In the previous years no full pro teams have come here in support of one rider and that’s what they have done for me.”
ORICA-GreenEDGE went into the stage looking to give West Australian Cameron Meyer an opportunity to ride for the stage win but were equally as happy to fall back to the alternate plan of setting up Ewan.
“We came into this race with a few different plans so it took the pressure right off me,” Ewan explained. “Unfortunately for Cam (Meyer) he didn’t get away, there were a few strong guys here, and it worked perfectly for me in the end.”
Sport director Matt Wilson credited the role of Meyer, who switched to the team role when it became apparent today wasn’t to be his day.
“We really thought that Cam would be able to get away here and have a good chance at the win but he was just too heavily marked I think,” Wilson said.
“But he quickly switched into teammate role and looked after Caleb for the sprint.”
The Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic wraps up tomorrow in Williamstown.
