Young Australian still aiming for first win with Orica-GreenEdge
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Caleb Ewan (Australia) proved himself the fastest finisher in the peloton but Sven Erik Bystrom's attack saw the Norwegian win gold(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Luka Mezgec leads Tyler Farrar in the sprint(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
It may be only his fourth race with the Orica-GreenEdge squad, but missing out on a win at the Tour of Beijing stung Caleb Ewan hard on Sunday.
Around the final 90-degree right-hander 600m the line, the 20-year-old was in fine position locked onto the wheel of his final lead-out man. With a brief look over his shoulder at around 300m to go, he launched his sprint - too early - and was swarmed by a group of more experienced sprinters. He finished 10th on the stage, which was won by Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp). Chalk it down to inexperience.
Back at the GreenEdge car, he was consoled by teammates but his disappointment was clear.
"I had a perfect lead out from the guys," he said afterwards. "I just went a little bit too early and 50m from the line I just ran out of legs and got jumped."
Ewan praised his teammates for the work done over the picturesque 176km stage through the Yan Mountains.
"It was a pretty tough stage but I felt like I had good legs," he said. "The roads here are quite fast and the guys kept me out of trouble all day, so I felt pretty strong."
It’s the second time at the Tour of Beijing that the youngster has been within a whisker of claiming his maiden win. On stage 1 he finished second to Luka Mezgec (Giant-Shimano) in Zhangjiakou.
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Reflecting on his first Tour with the Orica-GreenEdge squad, Ewan said: "I’m pretty happy with it, but it’s still disappointing because I got a perfect lead-out and the other day I came pretty close to winning.
"It’s a little bit disappointing to be so close, but my time will come I’m sure."
Ewan will likely get another shot on stage 5 from Tiananmen Square to the Bird’s Nest Stadium.
Sam started as a trainee reporter on daily newspapers in the UK before moving to South Africa where he contributed to national cycling magazine Ride for three years. After moving back to the UK he joined Procycling as a staff writer in November 2010.
