Australia’s fastest sprinter has committed to returning to Ballarat for the FedUni Cycling Australia Road National Championships on January 3-7.

Ewan, who is a principal sprinter for Australian-owned Orica Scott road racing team, has committed to defending his criterium title on the opening day of the championships and then backing up in the road race on the last day.

“I’m definitely going into the criterium to try to defend my title,” Ewans said.

“We should have a really good team there so I think we have a pretty good chance.”

He said the team had a “fair few options” for contenders in the road race.

“For me, I’m hoping the race is a little bit easier, with a head-wind up the climb to slow the race down so I can get to the finish for some sort of sprint. But as a team we have options for every race scenario.”

Ewans took out the criterium on a circuit in Street Sturt this year, while the road race was at Buninyong.

With the event having undergone a major review after this year’s championships, some course changes are on the cards.

Cycling Australia will announce the courses for the criteriums, time trials and road races in Ballarat on Monday.

Cycling Australia chairman Steve Bracks will be joined by reigning elite men’s road race champion Miles Scotson, elite women’s road race bronze medallist Lucy Kennedy,  triple paralympic gold medallist Carol Cooke and emerging Ballarat professional rider Liam White at the launch.

Next year’s championships have been expanded to include under-19, para-cycling and team categories.