21-year-old Caleb Ewan has wrapped up a third Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic title with another victory in Williamstown today.
Ewan, who also won back-to-back on the opening stages in Geelong, becomes the second most successful rider of the 26-year running event, behind Australian sprint legend Robbie McEwen (6titles).
A dominant ORICA-GreenEDGE again controlled racing on the final day, former Australian champion Luke Durbridge and debutant Jack Haig denying any attempts to break up racing.
“Look – the boys again, I always say it, they were so strong,” Ewan said. “They rode the whole race on the front. They were so impressive.
“Luke and Jack rode the front the whole time. Even at the end, they could it up still.
“Keeping me up near the front makes it a lot smoother for me so I can save a lot of energy. At the end of the race, I was feeling really good because of the position I was in. They delivered me perfectly.”
After a solid lead out by multiple track world champion Alex Edmondson, Ewan hit the final corner in front and sprinted to victory.
Despite taking the corner at speed, Ewan used experience to better his rivals who battled fiercely for his wheel.
“I thought I braked enough going into it, but as I was going through it I was thinking, ‘Oh gosh. I’m going a bit fast’ but I got around it alright,” he said.
“I had a little gap coming out of it. It’s not far from that corner to the finish so you really have to go through it in first place to win here.”
Ewan’s third victory saw him finish the series on 43points, 13points ahead of Brenton Jones (Drapac Professional, 30points) and 16points from Patrick Shaw (Avanti IsoWhey Sports, 27points).
How it happened:
Looking for a final stage victory and to wrap the series, ORICA-GreenEDGE controlled racing on the final day of racing.
Various attacks proved unsuccessful as Luke Durbridge and Jack Haig pulled the peloton to keep any moves under control.
As the peloton rode around for the bell Alex Edmondson took over at the front and led Ewan out much of the final lap before Ewan kicked into the final corner to led first into the final straight and hold on for victory.
The Australian Summer of Cycling now moves to Ballarat for the Mars Cycling Australian National Championships.
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