EWAN WINS PEOPLE’S CHOICE CLASSIC

Ewan launched off the wheel of ORICA-GreenEDGE teammate Daryl Impey and found an opening to burst ahead of Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek–Segafredo) and Adam Blythe (Tinkoff) for the first honours in Adelaide.

The win takes the 2015 Vuelta a Espana stage winner to six victories in 2016 after his success at the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic and the Australian road championships earlier this month.

“I felt really good coming into this race,” the 21-year-old said after the victory. “I’ve had some good races leading up to this and I think I should be peaking pretty well this week.”

“We said before the race that we would sit back in the bunch a little bit and because there are no really sharp corners it was really easy to sit in. We conserved a lot of energy early in the race and about mid-way through we started making our way up through the bunch and I think what we did worked perfectly.

“It’s always hard to go into a race as the favourite, and to be able to actually pull it off is another thing, so I’m really relieved that I won today and it gives me a whole lot of confidence going into the next races as well.”

The Santos Tour Down Under officially commences on Tuesday with a 130.8km opening stage from Prospect to Lyndoch.

Photo credits: TDWSport.com