14/01/2023

Caleb Ewan thriving after Schwalbe Classic win: "There are big sprints coming up in the Tour Down Under and now I know my sprint is pretty good"

The Schwalbe Classic is perhaps the most highly contested non-UCI race when it comes to high level sprinters, and there it was Caleb Ewan who has succeeded. He takes great motivation from this early-season triumph against strong competition.

"This race doesn't count towards your wins in the year. It perhaps should do it's against a WorldTour field, is the purest form of road sprinting and we were all racing full gas," Ewan told Cyclingnews in a post-race interview. "But whatever the record books may say, a win here in Adelaide, so early in the season and before the Tour Down Under, is a good confidence booster."

Caleb Ewan sprints to victory at Schwalbe Classic, Wollaston wins Women's Race

The Australian is a multiple time winner of this criterium and this Saturday evening he struck gold again Down Under. He's looking to start his World Tour season on a high at the Tour Down Under and after a complicated 2022 season he takes motivation from this win.

"It's the start of the season and so we're all trying to work out who is going well and perhaps who isn't... To win this one is significant. It may not be classified as a win but it means more than that to me, it confirms everything," he happily states.

Final startlist Tour Down Under 2023 with Froome, Bilbao, Matthews, S.Yates, Hindley, Hayter and Ewan

"As a sprinter, it's important to get that momentum going. There are big sprints coming up in the Tour Down Under and now I know my sprint is pretty good. That gives me confidence for the racing," Ewan added. He will face the likes of Jordi Meeus, Kaden Groves, Phil Bauhaus, Michael Matthews and many other fast men over the coming week, with several hilly stages to face.

"When you come off the winter, you always doubt a little bit if you've done the right preparation. I also changed my coach this year, so my training was a little different, meaning I didn't know how I was going to go. I was surprised with my ride at the Australian Nationals. I got further in the race than I thought I would. Yet my sprint was the thing I was unsure about," he concluded.