Mentor McGee says result will keep 18-year-old hungry
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Caleb Ewan (Australia) shows his silver medal(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The podium: Caleb Ewan (Australia), Matej Mohoric (Slovenia) and Josip Rumac (Croatia)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Matej Mohoric (Slovenia) celebrates while Caleb Ewan (Australia), right, shows his frustration(Image credit: Sirotti)
Matej Mohoric makes winning look easy(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The Australian Cyclones won their second road race silver medal of the UCI Road World Championships on Sunday, with Caleb Ewan leading the bunch sprint in the junior men's race for second place behind Slovenia's Matej Mohoric.
On Saturday, Rachel Neylan finished runner-up to Marianne Vos in the women's road race, while earlier in the championships, Rohan Dennis was second in the under 23 event against the clock.
"That was pretty disappointing for me but I think I will come out stronger next time," 18-year-old Ewan explained.
Ewan's mentor, Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank directeur sportif Brad McGee shared similar sentiments via his twitter feed.
"@CalebEwan nice work today mate. Silver at junior worlds is a great result and sure to keep you hungry."
Last month, Ewan told Cyclingnews that the cards had to fall a certain way for him to come away with the result he wanted. Ewan's three teammates - Brad Linfield, Robert-Jon McCarthy and Nick Schultz - rode exclusively for the Bowral sprinter and had planned to have at least one of them with him once they got over the Cauberg.
"Unfortunately with a four man team the guys used so much to try and set it up and keep it together we ran out of guys over the top," explained coach, Dave Sanders.
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"They did everything they could and the last climb before the Cauberg we had our guys on the front to try and split it up. There's two of them, that's 50 percent of the team, that spent their final 'biccies'."
Ewan had nothing but praise for his teammates.
"They did so well out there and rode as hard as they could," he said. "Silver is okay, I guess."
While the result will do little to calm speculation that Ewan is on the verge of signing with a pro team, the stage winner at Liège-La Gleize and the Regio Tour indicated that he was prepared to take a step-by-step approach to his future.
"I still want to do at least a year in under 23s but I don't know if I want to go pro after the first year or the second year - I will have to see how I'm going next year," he told Cyclingnews last month. "I haven't decided on a team yet but I'm hoping to get into Jayco-AIS, I think that's the best pathway for the Australians."
As a sports journalist and producer since 1997, Jane has covered Olympic and Commonwealth Games, rugby league, motorsport, cricket, surfing, triathlon, rugby union, and golf for print, radio, television and online. However her enduring passion has been cycling.
Jane is a former Australian Editor of Cyclingnews from 2011 to 2013 and continues to freelance within the cycling industry.
