Champion Aussie sprinter Robbie McEwen set to ride on

TRIPLE Tour de France green jersey winner Robbie McEwen is set to race the opening round of the national cyclo-cross series in Adelaide this weekend.

TRIPLE Tour de France green jersey winner Robbie McEwen is set to race the opening round of the national cyclo-cross series in Adelaide this weekend.

Australia's greatest sprinter - who retired from the WorldTour peloton last year - admitted he was "addicted to riding" and the thrill of cyclo-cross racing had lured him back on the bike.

McEwen will arrive in Adelaide on Friday and race throughout the south parklands on Saturday and west parklands on Sunday.

"I always wanted to do some cyclo-cross," he said.

"Having lived in Belgium all those years, it was like going to an AFL grand final when you'd get 50,000 people to the cyclo-cross world championships," McEwen said.

Last month he won two cyclo-cross races in Brisbane and had a final hit-out on the Gold Coast last weekend.

"I nearly had a small fall. I got shouldered by a fellow competitor but managed to get past him in the end," McEwen, 40, said.

"I was looking for the next race and it happened to be in Adelaide as part of the national series so I thought `beauty'.

"I guess you could say I'm addicted to riding because I'm retired but I keep going. I just want to go out and have fun.

"I'm competitive and I want to do as well as possible but there'll be some fit guys there who are doing lots of training."