Caleb Ewan conquers Scheldeprijs: This is probably one of the biggest sprint classics
Oct 15 2020 07:45 am CET
Caleb Ewan (c)Lotto Soudal
Lotto-Soudal's Caleb Ewan has taken the victory of the Scheldeprijs for the first time in his career by beating Pascal Ackermann and Niccolo Bonifazio, although the German of Bora-hansgrohe was later disqualified.
The oldest Flemish race in the international calendar was 174 kilometres long with a start and finish in Schoten, shorter than previous editions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The race came down to a final sprint in which the Australian showed to have the better legs, while Ackermann crossed the line in the second position and Bonifazio in the third, but the German was disqualified for irregular sprinting.
"I felt really good. I started my sprint a little bit earlier than I was thinking of doing, but I was able to keep my speed and nobody came closer", said Caleb Ewan. "For me the sprint wasn't too bad as I was in front and my team always did a super good job. I was all day out of trouble, even in the sprint. I only saw on TV that they crashed behind me. It's always a quite crazy sprint. I wanted to be up the front, out of trouble and that's what the team did for me.
"This is probably one of the biggest sprint classics. I haven't won one of these classics before, so it's super nice. Moreover it's the first time that I've done this Scheldeprijs. I wanted to come here and we were really motivated. I know it's really important for the team to have a big win in Belgium. So, I'm super happy that I could deliver that for them. We haven't had a win in a classic of this level for a long time in the team. So, they're going to be very happy. As it's my first time here and now my first win, I am super happy to have this on my palmares now."
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS FEEDS