Australian sprint young gun Caleb Ewan set to show his wares at Tour Down Under

CALEB Ewan can confirm his status as a bona fide future star of world cycling by dominating next week's Tour Down Under.

Orica GreenEDGE team boss Matt White believes Caleb Ewan can confirm his status as a bona fide future star of world cycling by dominating next week's Tour Down Under.

The 19-year-old speedster was on Wednesday confirmed in the UniSA team to ride the opening event of the World Tour alongside 18 of the world's best professional cycling outfits.

The annual event in South Australia is a perfect platform for Ewan to show his wares against the best cyclists on the world stage.

"I'm really interested to see how he goes in the Tour Down Under,'' said White of the NSW rider, who will join the GreenEDGE Australian professional team in October.

"I don't think he will get a lot of support from his teammates in the sprint. He will have to do it on his own.

"But if he can do it on his own, holy moley, what a talent.''

Two of the world's leading sprinters are in Australia for the race in Gemany's Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), a two-time winner of the Tour Down Under, and Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano).

There are numerous other sprint specialists in the field including Australians Mark Renshaw, Chris Sutton and Matt Goss.

For the 19-year-old to even be sparring with sprinters of this calibre will be an extraordinary experience for the riders from the NSW Southern Highlands.

White said Ewan caught his attention with both his racing talent and his gritty determination off the bike.

"I haven't see that style of will to win since Robbie McEwen,'' said White.

"He has this enormous hunger to win. It is quite extraordinary.''

Ewan, who took the under 23 road and time trial double at last weekend's Australian championships, is part of a seven-man UniSA team.

Joining Ewan in the team are Campbell Flakemore, Bradley Linfield, Jack Haig, Mark O'Brien, Anthony Giacoppo and Neil Van Der Ploeg.

"We've selected a mix of riders to target general classification (GC) and stage results and expect each of them to acquit themselves well against the world class field,'' said Cycling Australia high performance manager Kevin Tarbottom.

"We'll certainly be looking for Caleb Ewan to take the strong form he showed at the MARS National Road Championships into the TDU and beyond this season.''