Caleb Ewan has had the start to the year he craved as the Australian cycling star tries to reignite his career.
The sprint ace dominated the criterium at the Australian road cycling championships in Ballarat on Friday, continuing the impressive form of Jayco AlUla.
Australia's only WorldTour team now has won three of the four elite events so far at the nationals, with Ruby Roseman-Gannon leading their trifecta earlier on Friday evening in the women's criterium.
On Thursday, Luke Plapp won the men's time trial as Jayco AlUla filled the top four places.
Ewan is back at Jayco AlUla after five years at Belgian team Lotto Dstny, which started well before going sour.
He has not regained top form since crashing out of the 2021 Tour de France with a broken collarbone, and Ewan has been determined to start the year well.
It is his fourth national criterium title, following his three straight wins from 2016-18 when he was riding for Jayco AlUla's predecessor.
"I was super-nervous before the race ... I felt like a kid racing again," Ewan said after Friday's win in Ballarat.
"When you're nervous, it means you care. I couldn't have asked for (more)."
Jayco AlUla dominated the criterium and set up the finish perfectly for Ewan, who easily won the final sprint on Sturt St ahead of Jensen Plowright (Alpecin Decueninck) and Sam Welsford (Bora Hansgrohe).
Ewan is clearly in strong form - he even attacked the peloton at one point on Friday - and now wants an elusive win on Sunday in the blue-riband nationals road race, where he is a previous runner-up.
A crash at the bottom of the home straight on the finishing lap took out two riders, understood to be Graeme Frislie and Patrick Eddy.
Earlier on Friday evening, Roseman-Gannon won her second criterium title with a solo finish.
The 25-year-old Victorian attacked with Gina Ricardo midway through the race, and the pair built a 30-second lead on the peloton.
Ricardo ran out of steam in the last couple of laps and was swamped by the chasing pack at the finish, as Roseman-Gannon won by 14 seconds.
Roseman-Gannon's teammate Georgia Baker won the sprint for silver, with Alex Manly third.
All will ride in the women's road race on Sunday.
Roseman-Gannon was the pre-race favourite after winning the criterium title two years ago, but the expectation was that she would win a bunch sprint for the title.
She said she was not feeling good in the first 15 or 20 minutes and so decided to attack.
"Gina worked well with me - I thought she was maybe playing a bit and she had more in the tank," she said.
"I actually feel bad, I should have kept her out a bit longer and away from the bunch.
"It's a great way to start the year with such a great team."
Roseman-Gannon had finished runner-up in the previous two criteriums before she took out the 2022 national title in a bunch sprint, then finished sixth last year.
Ricardo's teammate Keely Bennett finished fifth to win the under-23 national title.
Earlier on Friday at Ballarat's Sturt St circuit, Blake Agnoletto won the men's under-23 criterium.
