Australia’s fastest cyclist Caleb Ewan has set his sights on another assault on the Australian cycling circuit in 2018, with confirmation of his early season race program today.
The 23-year-old, who claimed 13 victories in 2017 including six in Australia, will return to the Australian Cycling Road National Championships to defend his criterium title and line up in the road race, before heading to the Tour Down Under in Adelaide and concluding his ‘home’ tour on Australia Day at Race Melbourne as part of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
“I’m definitely going into the criterium to try to defend my title. We should have a really good team there so I think we have a pretty good chance.”
“For the road race, we have a fair few options. For me, I’m hoping the race is a little bit easier, with a head wind up the climb to slow the race down going up the hill, so I can get to the finish for some sort of sprint. But as a team we have options for every race scenario.”
“Wearing the green and gold at any point is really an honour. We don’t do a lot of crits so I haven’t been able to wear the green and gold a lot, so it would really be a dream to wear it on the road.”
At the Tour Down Under, Ewan will face a deeper sprinter field than last year, when he won four stages and the points jersey.
“Obviously, I’d like to repeat what I did last year, but it’s going to be hard to win four stages and the People’s Choice again.”
“There’s probably only three stages that really suit sprinters in the 2018 Tour Down Under, and then there may be a fourth depending on how it is raced. Looking at the profiles, the first two stages and last stage suit me best and then maybe the third stage if it is a more negative race.”
“This year, the sprint field is a lot better than it’s been in the past two years so it’s definitely going to be challenging.”
“The Tour Down Under is one of the biggest races in Australia and being Australian, racing there, I’m very motivated to do well in my home race.”
