Following his impressive runner-up spot claimed in physically exhausting national championships road race last Sunday, Caleb Ewan was once again called the next big star of Australian cycling. Orica-GreenEDGE manager Matt White is aware that building a confidence of the 20-year old sprinter will be crucial during his first year as a professional and revealed, that claiming five victories in 2015 will be his main goal.

Ewan will follow a race programme in which, instead of clashing with biggest names of the pro peloton, he will be provided with many chances to learn his craft as a sprinter. The Australian team manager believes that such approach will allow him to claim more than just one victory in 2015.

“I expect him to win races this year, definitely,” White told Cycling Weekly in Buninyong, Victoria.

“He will always have guys around him. Adam Blythe and Leigh [Howard] will be there for the first part of the year and then Mitch [Docker] will be doing a lot with him in the middle and second part of the season. Five UCI wins is the goal.”

Even though the 20-year old Australian wants to develop as a pure sprinter, he is more versatile than many would expect and proved that on a demanding circuit arount Ballerat.

“I thought I’ve shown this before but obviously not,” Ewan said of his versatility in a post-race media scrum. “I do climb quite well on circuits sometimes and today I really wanted this. When the team gave me the opportunity in the last three laps I found a bit extra and I was feeling quite good.

“It’s so great, like I said at the Bay crits, to have those guys,” he continued. “They truly believe in me. It would be hard, a neo-pro coming in and you’ve been around for a while and you’re helping him try and win. I really appreciate what the team does for me. They did it all through Bay crits and gave me a great opportunity as well today.”

Despite currently being in a great disposition, Ewan will skip Tour Down Under and line-up at the Sun Tour and Tour de Langkawi, there he will face real chances to fight for his first victories as professional rider.

“I want him winning and winning straight away,” White said. “Sprinting is a lot about confidence. I expect by the time he gets to Langkawi he will have already won a stage in the Sun Tour and I think it’s a good place for our sprint group to practice.

“The race has been shortened a little bit from 10 days to seven so there will be multiple chances on very flat sprints to work with Leigh, to work with Adam and to get some runs on the board before he even gets to Europe. Throwing him in the deep end at Down Under that certainly wouldn’t be a good move for us. At the end of the day we’ve got goals at Down Under and putting a 20-year-old as our main focus in his first race with the team, in the WorldTour, wouldn’t be responsible.”