‘I needed the confidence’ - Caleb Ewan on winning Tour of Oman stage 1
First UCI victory in eighꦛt months for Australian sprinಌter

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Caleb Ewan let out a roar when he crossed the finish line to claim not only his first UCI win of the season but the first victory in almost one year. The Australian sprinter was the fastest in the hectic bunch sprint finish on stage 1 of the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour of Oman.
Ewan’s last two presences on top o⛄f a UCI podium were at the Van Merksteijn Fences Classic in May ♏2023, and GP de Fourmies in September 2022.
“I felt good. It's been maybe seven or eight months since my last victory, and then before that, probably another seven or eight months. So only one win in the last probably 🃏year or a year and a half, ” Ewan told flobikes🥃 and other media at the finish in Muscat.
“I needed the confidence and I think it's good that my new team has the confidenc♔e as well. So great feeling to start like this.”
The pressure to deliver was building the 11-time Grand Tour stage winner who re-joined Team Jayco-AlUla after a difficult 2023. The year looked promising when the 29-year-old won the Australian Criterium Championship last month but then he was struck by an illness in the lead-up to the WorldTour opener, the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour Down Under, where his best placing was fourth on stage 1.
Adding to the pressure is the fact ♑that the first Oman stage, a flat 181.5km affair, was the only chance for the sprinters to s𝓰hine in the race.
“I've felt good all year to be honest and in the sprinting now, obviously, everyone's so good that you really ꦐhave to get it right every time. And today, we got it right and pulled it off.&rd🌠quo;
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The Tour of Oman is also the first time that Ewan raced with his leadout man 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Max Walsheid who was brought in from Cofidis to bolster the team's sprint train. The same squad will be taking on seven-day WorldTour race, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tirreno-Adriatico, in early M♓arch. Ewan won a stage at the Italian stage race🔜 in 2022.
With a win under𝓡 his belt, he will focus on the rest of the season, starting with using the hilly stages in Oman to his adva✅ntage.
“I said to one of my teammates🔯, I hope I'll win today because having the weight off my shoulders in the climbs will make it a lot easier. And I think when you♊ ride around with just a bit more confidence and just having that pressure off it's gonna make it a lot easier. And now the rest of the race I can really focus on going quite deep in a lot of the stages and just kind of build my form.”
“This year I really want 🏅to come back to my best and hopefully this is the start of it.”
Lyne has been involved in professional cycling for more than 15 years in both news reporting and sports marketing. She founded Podium Insight in 2008, quickly becoming a trusted source for news of the North American professiona꧒l cycling world. She was the first to successfully use social media to consistently provide timely and live race updates for all fans. She is proud to have covered men's and women's news equally during her tenure at the helm of the site. Her writing has appeared on Cyclingnews and other news sites.