Big favourite Caleb Ewan was a marked man and had no teammates for support in today's Australian U23 Criterium Championships but he overcame all the challenges to add the title to his palmares. Having left it to Avanti to control the race, he powered down the finish line to beat Robert McCarthy and Alex Wohler in the final sprint.

Having long been described as the next big Australian sprinter, all eyes were on Caleb Ewan in today's Australian U23 Criterium Championships. In his last attempt to take the title before turning professional with Orica-GreenEDGE in 2015, Ewan carried the pressure of being the major favourite.

However, the burden of expectation was not too much for the rider who last week won the final stage of the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic against the experienced pros. Despite a lack of team support, he came away with the title after having beaten Robert McCarthy and Alex Wohler in the final sprint.

Yesterday Harry Carpenter was heartbreakingly beaten into second by just 0.2 seconds in the time trial but the youngster was intent to make amends as soon as possible. He dominated today's race by going into a solo break and staying away until only four laps remained.

The Avanti team had strength in numbers and spent the majority of the race leading the peloton. However, they had a hard time catching the lone Carpenter which allowed Ewan to sit in and wait for the sprint.

With Carpenter back in the fold, several new attempts were launched. Darcy Woolly gave it a go but it was the final attack by Samuel Spokes which looked most promising. However, no one had success and the bunch sprint was inevitable.

Having saved his energy throughout the race, Ewan was ready to strike and he placed himself perfectly in the build-up to the sprint. Launching his furious acceleration, he had plenty of time to celebrate the win.

“It’s really good for me to get the Australian title, it’s my last year in under 23 and it’s really good to get a win,” he said afterwards. “Coming into the race I was speaking with Brad [McGee] and we agreed I would sit in and take myself out of the race as much as possible to make other people to work. It forced Avanti to do that because they didn’t have anyone in the break which was perfect for me.”

Ewan managed to avoid a late crash and said that the role of favourite carried certain advantages.

"The good thing about being a heavily marked person is that a lot of the fighting goes on behind you… I got to sit exactly where I wanted to most of the day because a lot of people just let me in so it's not all downsides to being a favourite for a race," he said.

"I was in perfect position coming into the last straight and not too close to the front and not too far back and it just worked out perfectly in the in," he added. "Because I came from behind I knew the guys that were really contesting the sprint so when I looked back I just made sure I had enough time to put my hands in the air."

Ewan will again be a marked man on Saturday when the road race will be contested. After finishing 4th at the U23 World Championships on the hard course in Florence, he is hopeful that he will be able to take the title on the hilly circuit in Buninyoung.

“All of my preparations have been for the road race and obviously there are some really strong guys here," he said. "We saw Harry Carpenter out all day and it was a really impressive ride and he did another really impressive ride yesterday in the time trial so I’m sure he’s going to be really hard to beat.

"There are at least 20 guys in that bunch that can win that road race which makes it really unpredictable and when you don't have a team it's quite hard," he added. "This win doesn't change my strategy or plans for Saturday's road race at all."

Carpenter earned praise for his aggressive showing and despite again coming away empty-handed, he was happy with his performance that earned him the sprint jersey.

"I was very happy to take the jersey but it would have been nice to hang on for a few more laps until the end but you can’t win everything so I was just determined to out there and give it my best," he said. "It’d be a dream to win the road race on Saturday, yesterday was tough being so close national champion. I was aiming for podium and to get it was awesome but there was a fair of fire left in the belly so I was determined to come out today and give it a fair crack and see what I could do but I couldn’t quite hang on at the end."

The road race takes place on Saturday while the elite men's race ends the championships one day later.

Result:

1. Caleb Ewan 46.14

2. Robert McCarthy

3. Alex Wohler

4. Luke Parker

5. Bradley Linfield

6. Samuel Wood +0.04

7. Jack Beckinsale

8. Patrick Sharpe

9. Samuel Spokes

10. Ayden Toovey +0.06