Swift triumph may not prove too steep a climb for Caleb Ewan

A SPRINTER like Caleb Ewan would usually be an outsider on the hilly circuit at the Australian road cycling championships, but not Ewan.

Criterium winner Caleb Ewan with his mum Kassandra. Picture: Ian Wilson

A SPRINTER like Caleb Ewan would usually be an outsider on the hilly Buninyong circuit at the Australian road cycling championships.

But Ewan is no normal bike rider.

The ease of the 19-year-old's win in Thursday's under-23 nationals criterium would have left his rivals nervous ahead of the under-23 road race on Saturday.

It followed his win last Sunday in the last round of the Bay Classic criterium series.

The two victories show Ewan is over the injuries he suffered in a bike crash late last year.

Considered a once-in-a-generation rider, Ewan, who already has a professional contract, will stay in under-23 competition until August, when he joins Orica-GreenEDGE.

His fourth placing in the hilly under-23 world championships road race last September showed Evans is more than just a pure sprinter.

Orica-GreenEDGE director Matt White says it is too early to categorise him.

Ewan was modest after his criterium win when asked whether he could also challenge for the road race title on the 10km Buninyong circuit.

"It's hard to tell because there are so many good riders in under-23s and there are a lot of good hill climbers. I'm not really known to be a great hill climber," he said.

"I don't know if you can call it a pure hill climber's course, because we have seen sprinters get around it.

"It's a 3km climb with quite a long descent, so there's lot of recovery.

"It all depends on how the race is actually raced, not what the course is like." Drapac rider Jordan Kerby showed he has good form for his under-23 road title defence over 132km when he won Wednesday's time trial.

South Australian Harry Carpenter is another rider to watch after losing to Kerby by only two 10ths of a second and then making a long solo break in the criterium.