Ewan blasts onto the big stage with Bay Classic victory

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Allan Davis (Mitchelton Wines – Lowe Farms) stepped into the overall lead of the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic with a runner-up performance in a bunch sprint, while 17-year-old Caleb Ewan (NSWIS) stole the show against his much older and experienced rivals to win stage 2 at Eastern Park.

Ewan, World Junior Omnium Champion on the track, found perfect positioning to cross the finish line ahead of Davis and Bernie Sulzberger (Urban Hotels) in a shortened race due to searing temperatures experienced throughout the day of racing with several support events being undertaken from mid-morning. The mercury hit 45 degrees centigrade as the men's field lined up for the start.

Monday's win was without doubt the biggest win of Ewan's career and followed from his second placing behind Chris Sutton (Sky) at the Cronulla event of the NSW Grand Prix Series early last month. Ewan explained that finishing so close to the Vuelta stage winner gave him the confidence to be able to post a result this week at the Bay Crits.

"I knew I could come in pretty close to those guys if I was in the right position," he said. "I used that as a guide to how I ride."

Admittedly "over the moon" with the result, Ewan explained that he tried to forget about some of the people he was racing against and approach the race as if it were "another under 19 race."

"If you think about who you're racing, guys who have won grand tour stages and that, it's pretty intimidating being 17 but whatever I did it worked okay," the Bowral high school student reasoned.

The men's peloton was split after Sulzberger took out the day's opening sprint from Mitch Docker (GreenEdge) and brother Wes (GreenEdge) as a group of 13 riders containing Michael Hepburn, Davis (Mitchelton Wines – Lowe Farms), Docker, Sulzberger (GreenEdge), Trent Derencourt (John West Cycling), Dean Windsor, Johnnie Walker, Zak Dempster (Degani Bakery Cafe), Nathan Haas (BikeBug), James Mowatt (Rapido Cycling – Four Points Geelong), Bernie Sulzberger (Urban Hotels), Campbell Flakemore (Genesys Wealth Advisors) and Ewan (NSWIS) went off the front of the main bunch. The group's gap got out to half a lap, or 53 seconds and their lead was never seriously challenged.

Davis pulled on the overall leader's jersey with today's second placing with a three-point buffer on 18 points back to Sulzberger (Urban Hotels). Ewan (NSWIS) is third overall on 14 points with stage 1 winner Greg Henderson (Degani) fourth overall (12 points).

The Bundaberg native improved on his third placing on Sunday today and was hoping that a stage win was not too far away.

"It's another day of being so close, not just for myself but for GreenEdge," Davis explained. "We're trying to get that first one on the board which is always the hardest but hopefully tomorrow or the next day we can pull it off."

Asked what was more important, a stage win or overall at the end of the week, Davis was split.

"A stage win is what you always want to start off with and if you get yellow along the way it's a bonus as well," he said with his Mitchelton Wines – Lowe Farms outfit essentially a second GreenEdge team. "The points are so close so you need to be really consistent to win the overall."

Davis believes that Urban Hotels' Bernie Sulzberger will be the biggest threat in the field and planned to keep an eye on the Tasmanian.

Rowney too quick for Spratt as Hosking retains women's overall 

In the women's race, Loren Rowney made it two from two for Total Rush – Hyster, outsprinting Amanda Spratt (GreenEdge) to claim stage 2 of the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic.

The pair escaped with five laps remaining in the race, which had been reduced by five minutes due to delays caused from the searing conditions on the edge of Port Phillip Bay. Just prior, it had been Spratt's teammate, Jessie Maclean who again produced an attacking performance with a four-lap solo escape.

Rowney, overall winner in October's Honda Hybrid Women's Tour and Specialized-lululemon recruit said that being from Queensland, she used the heat to her advantage.

"For the first 20 minutes, Chloe said to relax, it's hot, make sure you conserve and then just attack, attack," the 23-year-old explained. "But I was a bit active at the start and after going off the front a little bit, I came back to the bunch and Jessie went.

"I didn't panic, I knew I could catch my breath and bridge across (to the front group) and that's what I did."

Rowney was too good for her opposition, outsprinting Spratt in the finishing straight.

"I did the turn all the way down the back, but obviously there's a slight cross tailwind," she explained of the tactics being played out over the final lap of the 1.8 kilometre circuit.

"So I was just tempoing it down the back, I actually led it out over the top of the hill and she went, I knew she went too early. I knew I've got a better kick, so I went with about 300m to go."

Today's win gets the four race series off to a highly successful start after teammate Chloe Hosking won Stage 1 on Sunday. Hosking finished fourth behind Melissa Hoskins (GreenEdge) to retain her overall leader's jersey by a one-point buffer from the sprinter. Defending champion Rochelle Gilmore (BikeExchange Dream Team) is third on 14 points.

Full results