A win is a win, as the saying goes, but despite twice raising his arms in victory at the recent Bay Crits, sprinter Caleb Ewan is well aware that his 2019 season really starts at the Tour Down Under. The Australian fastman switched teams from Mitchelton-Scott to Lotto Soudal over the winter, and although the rider he replaced at Lotto – Andre Greipel – is not competing at the Tour Down Under this year, Ewan is under no illusions that he will be one of the main focuses at the first WorldTour race of the season. "I'm really looking forward to getting the season under way," he told Cyclingnews before a training ride in Adelaide on Wednesday. ??"Obviously we've done a few races already and my form has been pretty good, but I'm really looking forward to racing with the full team. Everyone here is going well. Some riders are still a bit jet-lagged, but by the time the race comes around, they'll be in good condition."ADVERTISEMENT Ewan won two out of the three races at the Bay Crits earlier in January, but the 24-year-old fully understands that the competition in Adelaide will be far fiercer. Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) has arrived with a full lead-out train, while Peter Sagan – despite playing down his chances – is never far from the action in bunch sprints. There are a number of other WorldTour sprinters in attendance this year, but the home crowd and fans outside of the Australian bubble will be expecting Ewan to add to his tally of seven stage wins. "The wins at the Bay Crits gave me a bit of confidence and showed where my form is. I know it was a small race, but it was good to get that feeling back – that winning feeling – and I've felt strong in the races so far. At Nationals, as I've said before, the course only suits me if there's a headwind and the racing is negative. It wasn't like that this year, so it was too hard for a sprinter. Me getting around that course was hard enough."
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