Australian Caleb Ewan claimed his second win during the third stage of the Tour de Korea. The ORICA-GreenEDGErider proved to be the fastest once more in the bunch sprint and, after obtaining the best young rider’s jersey yesterday, is now also in the possession of the leader’s jersey.

A small group of escapees took off early during the relatively short circuit race of 99 kilometres. Though short, with its hilly parcouse, the stage proved to be a hard one. The Australian outfit worked hard to control the race and direct the stage into another sprint finish.

Caleb Ewan is pleased with the way the team is racing in Korea:“I’m pretty happy about obtaining my second stage win. Wouter Wippert, who had the leader’s jersey before me got dropped today. It’s good to take the lead.

“Today’s stage was pretty tough. Though short, the circuit was pretty tough. There were a lot of guys attacking, but the team did well to keep them from going too far off. They did really well to defend and control the race.

“I’m feeling quite alright. I’m still a bit sore from the fall in the first stage, but once I’ve warmed up, about a half hour into the race, my legs are feeling good and I kind of just forget about it. I’ve got some good motivation to keep going, and towards the end, when it really matters, I feel fine so it’s alright. I’m eager to defend my leader’s jersey, and go for more stage wins.”

Sports director David McPartland is pleased that all went well for the team again today: “We’re very happy with the win, we had a good day again and our plan for today pretty much just unravelled for us. It was a very short, but very intense race. We couldn’t be happier.

“We had a look at the course this morning to see how hard it was. Before the start, we had a meeting with the team and decided to set the sprint up for Caleb. Caleb is going well and we have a strong team here to control the race and we have enough men to do the lead out for him.

“A small group took off early in the stage. We rode at the front and controlled the race to keep them around two and half minutes for most of the day. Then it sort of just took care of itself. With only two laps to go, the racing got quite aggressive, but we were always in control and Caleb had enough troops and was supported by Michael Hepburn all day."