"I was way too far back and to be honest, I thought the stage was gone" - Caleb Ewan makes a comeback for silver in first stage of Tour Down Under

Caleb Ewan came close to victory but ultimately finished second, just behind Phil Bauhaus of Lotto Dstny, in the first stage of the Tour Down Under.

“To be honest, I was a bit surprised to be that close to the win, as I thought that I was way too far to be in contention,” said Ewan after the race.He would have preferred to win the stage, but ultimately the outcome is not in his control.“ It’s, of course, disappointing with the legs I had, but I am pretty happy about my form and sprint.”

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The stage was plagued by crashes, some of which affected the teammates of an Australian rider as well. “I lost a couple of teammates in a crash, but Jarrad Drizners did a good job in the final, until his chain came off in the last descent. So I was alone in the end, but managed to keep a pretty good position in the sketchy final kilometres.”

With no teammates to assist him, he attempted a final push but ultimately lost the sprint to Phil Bauhaus in a chaotic finish. “I was in a good position until about one kilometre to go but the lead-outs in front ran out of guys and I got swamped a bit. I was way too far back and to be honest, I thought the stage was gone. I sprinted anyway but I didn’t think I was sprinting that fast until all of a sudden, it looked like I was sprinting for the win. There’s a few more chances coming up this week so we’ll definitely give it another shot”, concluded Ewan.

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