Road Nationals 2024: Caleb Ewan’s fourth win in six years in criterium brilliance

Caleb Ewan has begun the summer in the perfect way in Ballarat, claiming the men’s criterium at the Road Nationals in a tense sprint finish.

Team Jayco AlUla’s Caleb Ewan has made the ideal start to his return to the Australian team by claiming the men’s criterium at the Road Nationals in Ballarat.

Ewan claimed his fourth national title in the criterium and his first in six years, beating Australia’s best riders in a sprint finish at the end of the 40-lap race.

The 29-year-old was set up perfectly by his teammates to claim the win despite a crash in the field with 300m to go.

It was his first race for Team Jayco AlUla since 2018 after racing for the past five years with Belgian team Lotto Soudal.

Ewan’s win keeps him at the top as Australia’s most successful criterium rider after also claiming the title in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

“It’s great to put the jersey on,” he said.

“It’s exactly the way I wanted to start (the year).

“Sprinting is all about confidence so to win here gives me a bit of confidence heading into the Aussie summer.”

Caleb Ewan in Ballarat, Victoria preparing for the Tour Down Under, Friday, January 5, 2024. Picture: Con CHRONIS/The Advertiser

In a race which saw few breakaways, Ewan made one of his own after claiming an intermediate sprint half way through the race.

But the stage winner at all three Grand Tours said the plan all along was to get to the end and sprint away.

“I saw lots of moves going and I saw a few of my guys ahead had been moving a lot already and might be tired, so I jumped,” he said.

“I wasn’t going to go solo for 20 laps.”

Ewan finished ahead of Alpecin Decueninck’s Jensen Plowright and BORA +AC0- Hansgrohe Sam Welsford who rounded out the podium.

The sprinter now heads to the road race on Sunday at Buninyong in good shape to claim his first national crown in the event.

Meanwhile in the women’s criterium, Ruby Roseman-Gannon made it a good night out for Team Jayco AlUla by claiming her second national title in the discipline after a dominant display.

The rider attacked and broke away from the peloton before the half way mark in the 30 lap race and held off a fast-finishing pack, which included her teammates, to win.

For most of the breakaway she was joined by Team Bridgelane’s Gina Ricardo who helped her stay away from the peloton.

After multiple attacks on Ricardo with a few laps to go, Roseman-Gannon made the decisive move two laps from the end to take the win.

Ricardo was unable to hold out the peloton with Roseman-Gannon’s teammates Georgia Baker and Alexandra Manly claiming the other two positions on the podium.

“I appreciate her (Ricardo’s) work and also apologise for dropping her, it would have been nice for her to finish it off with a silver medal,” she said.

“I was trying to encourage her to work as much as possible.

“I was a little bit worried, I was doubting myself a little bit and just wondering how it could play out.

“Sometime you have to stop thinking and let the mind rest and the body do the work.”

The 25-year-old revealed the plan wasn’t entirely to breakaway as it usually doesn’t work out.

“The plan was, in the last five laps, to keep it together for Georgia (Baker),” she said.

“But we had the freedom to attack if we wanted to.

“Usually it’s pretty hard to get away when you are marked a bit.”

But Roseman-Gannon was able to defy the odds to claim her second criterium title after also winning in 2022.