Tour Down Under: Classic message from Caleb on opening night

The last time Caleb Ewan won the opening night Classic at the Tour Down Under he was unbeatable for the rest of the week.

Caleb Ewan takes out the Tour Down Under classic in Adelaide yesterday. Picture: Sarah Reed

The last time Caleb Ewan won the opening night Classic at the Tour Down Under he was unbeatable for the rest of the week. So when he saluted in the Adelaide East End last night it was an ominous warning to the peloton left in his wake.

Ewan made a perfect start to life with his new team (Lotto-Soudal) by winning the Down Under Classic in a bunch sprint that was reduced in size due to a series of late crashes but not lacking any quality with three-time world champion Peter Sagan second and former Australian champion Alex Edmondson third.

It was the third time Ewan has won the criterium following victories in 2016 and 2017 — and that year he went on to win all four sprint stages of the TDU proper and the sprint classification.

The 24-year-old lost some of his teammates in crashes on the last two laps that took down Italian rival Elia Viviani, but he still had Roger Kluge to deliver him to the line perfectly and he was able to finish it off.

“It feels good, this was our first time riding together as a team so we really couldn’t have asked for a better start,” Ewan said.

“There was a lot of pressure because you just don’t know how it’s going to start with a new team, especially with something like a lead-out that needs to evolve over time.

“It was pretty spot on, I had Roger (Kluge) there as my last man at the end and I got to sprint when I wanted to start.

“I’m honoured that he (Kluge) would come with me (to Lotto-Soudal), it’s good to have someone who is familiar with the way I sprint and he knows what I like so it makes that transition into a new team a bit easier.

“On a course like this it’s really hard to have a whole lead-out stay together because you have guys coming underneath in the corners and you’re constantly moving up, but I said to the guys just to get Roger and I into good position when we needed to be and they did that so it was a perfect start.”

With the diminished field at the finish Ewan said it was hard to gauge his form against all of his rivals but he was hopeful of a strong showing in the TDU, which starts with Stage 1 from North Adelaide to Port Adelaide tomorrow.

“It was a bit unfortunate there was a crash in the end because you want all the sprinters to be there,” Ewan said. “It’s hard to tell the indication against the other sprinters because some of them went down, but my feelings were good and the team rode great. It’s such a strong sprint field here, probably the best they’ve had in a long time, so it definitely won’t be easy to win sprints when the Tour starts.”

The criterium started two hours earlier than normal and was changed from a set distance to “one hour plus one lap” due to live TV coverage, which also provided the peloton with a taste of the heat expected to greet them on the first two stages of this week’s race.

The temperature is forecast to hit 41C tomorrow but Stage 1 (132km) will be held as normal. Stage 2 however has been reduced by 26.9km to 122km.