2015 Vuelta a Espana stage winner Caleb Ewan has continued his impressive start to 2016 by taking out the Mars Cycling Australia National Criterium Championship this evening in Ballarat.

The 21-year-old, who claimed his third Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic title on Monday, lined up in the first national championship of the week alongside ORICA-GreenEDGE’s strongest ever contingent of riders in the criterium.

The outfit controlled the majority of racing courtesy of Luke Durbridge and Jack Haig, leaving Mitch Docker and Alexander Edmondson to take the reigns in the final laps before Ewan finished it off with a convincing win in the sprint.

"I can't fault them, perfect from start to finish," Ewan said of his teammates. "First, when all of the attacks were going, they controlled things and only let the breaks go that they wanted to. Then they pretty much rode the front for the rest of the race making everyone else struggle behind.

"Alex went down the back straight on the last lap and when he hit the front no one could come around us. And he still had enough energy to go around the corner and take me up most of the straight until a had to start my sprint with 200metres to go. To have a guy as fast as Alex leading you out, anyone who is out of position can't really move up.

"200metres to go was the first time I had to touch the wind for the whole race, so that makes it a whole lot easier.

“It was actually a big relief. I came to this race really, really nervous and I knew I had some good wins already in the Bay Crits so I was clearly the favourite for today. Obviously there’s a fair bit of pressure going into the race as favourite.

“I can’t fault the team at all, they rode perfectly and again they just gave me such an easy ride out there and that’s what makes the difference in the end.

“It’s pretty nice to get the gold one finally, well not finally only after one season, but it feels really good and I’m an elite national champion and that’s something nice to have on your palmares. I’m still looking forward to the road race, that’s the big one that you really want to win so hopefully I go well there as well.

With the road race still to come, Ewan is confident the team is looking strong.

"I think everyone is going really well, so Sunday should be pretty exciting.

“Obviously I’d like to win (Sunday) but we’ll see how the race plays out. It makes a massive difference I think with the wind as well, which way that blows, because if it’s a tailwind up the climb it’s probably going to be too hard for me so I’m hoping for a headwind” concluded Ewan.