Irish rider takes 5th in elite men’s road race at Australian Champs | Video | Sticky Bottle

*Jesse Ewart, in blue on the front, has taken 5th in the Australian road race championships and is hoping to represent Ireland having declared for the country of his grandparents*

Irish rider Jesse Ewart, a successful pro rider who grew up in Australia, has claimed 5th in the elite men’s road race at the Australian road championships in Buninyong.

The gold medal was won by defending
champion Cameron Meyer (Team BikeExchange) in a breakaway
sprint from Kelland O’Brien (InForm TMX Make) and Scott Bowden.

Nicholas White (Team BridgeLane) was 4th,
followed by Ireland’s Ewart (Team Sapura Cycling) – with those first five
finishing on the same time.

Just two seconds after the top five
sprinted in came James Whelan (EF Education-Nippo) in 6th and Luke Durbridge (Team
BikeExchange) in 7th. Another two riders were just seconds back, making for
nine up front almost two minutes ahead of the nearest chasers.

Ewart (26) told stickybottle he was very pleased with his ride, though a little unlucky not to have achieved a better result.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm7hNAj9Yx4&feature=emb_title

There was lots of chopping and changing
at the front of the race towards the end of the 185.6km contest. Though Ewart
was part of those attacks, it still came down to a sprint from the seven-man
group with Durbridge able to assist Meyer to take the title.

“It was a hard day out, just constantly
on the pedals,” Ewart told stickybottle. “BikeExchange had the numbers but
didn’t want to control the race either so they put two guys in an early break.”

Ewart said the very strong tailwind on
the main climb on the course suited the climbers, with what would prove to be
the winning group taking shape on the climb on the third last lap.

When Harper later attacked with 30km to go, Ewart decided not to respond as it was a long way from the finish. He stayed in the group with Meyer and Durbridge, and Harper was later caught.

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“I stayed with Meyer and Durbridge,
which worked out to be a smart move. But it also backfired as it was very hard
to attack with the two BikeExchange riders closing down breaks.

“Meyer was easily the fastest man in the
sprint from the last ten men left. I’m not the fastest finisher in a sprint and
got 5th.”

While Ewart has declared to ride for
Ireland, he still holds dual Irish and Australian citizenship, which enabled
him to ride the Australian nationals.

His grandfather, Jim Ewart, was an Irish international bike rider back in the 1950s. Jesse Ewart said he declared for Ireland because he wanted to represent the country that his grandfather did.

Ewart met Irish commissaire Jack Watson at a race in Kazakhstan a few years ago and Watson remembered his grandfather. Jesse Ewart said that meeting and conversation with Watson rekindled a long-held desire to one day represent Ireland like his grandfather and so he set out declaring for Ireland.

Ewart has won several UCI-ranked races in recent years including the final yellow jersey, twice, at the Tour de Singkarak, a 2.2-ranked race in Indonesia.

He has ridden for Asian Continental
outfit Team Sapura Cycling for the last three years, and is staying with that
team for 2021. Before he joined that team in 2018 he rode for the 7 Eleven-Roadbike
team in the Philippines.