Caleb Ewan, one of the most successful cyclists of the modern era, will not be on the Australian team for the World Championships in his home country next month and he disagrees with the decision.
The 28-year-old Lotto Soudal rider had previously said he was going to make the road race in Wollongong a key priority for the season. However, when the course was unveiled, it was much hiller than expected, including 11 ascents of the Mount Pleasant climb, which is just over 1km in length.
Still, Ewan believed he could compete for the win and the fact he is not on the team comes as somewhat of a surprise, even though his poor had been mediocre for months, before winning stage 1 at Deutschland Tour yesterday.
He said after his win yesterday he was now climbing well as he had been preparing for the Worlds course. Initially he was diplomatic about his disappointment, but was a bit more pointed afterwards, saying he deserved to be on the team.
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“(AusCycling’s) decision is their decision and it’s true I haven’t been performing over the last few months,” he said immediately after his stage win in Germany. “I was super motivated to get ready and try to win it, but like I said, they have their reasons and I have to respect that. It’s disappointing but I’m still going to use that form to try and end the season well.”
Later on Instagram he shared a photo of his win in Germany, saying it "felt good specially after the bad news that I won’t be at my home World Championships" this year.
"To be honest I don’t have much to say on the matter other than I’m heartbroken I won’t be there to represent my country and that I believe I deserved to be there. Anyways, sob story over," he said.
In the absence of Ewan, the Australian men’s team will be led by Giro d’Italia winner Jai Hindley and Tour de France stage winner Michael Matthews.
Luke Plapp also gets his first call up to the elite road race team for the Worlds while Ben O’Connor and Simon Clarke are two very strong riders in the line-up. The team is then completed by a very strong trio; Nick Schultz, Luke Durbridge and Heinrich Haussler.
