The 23-year-old captured his third consecutive elite men’s criterium title at the FedUni Cycling Australia Road National Championships on Sturt Street on Wednesday night.

While the margin back to Steele Von Hoff and Brenton Jones was not great, Ewan was never going to lose and won emphatically in a sprint finish.

Ewans could not have scripted the race 44km event, comprising 40 laps of a 1.1km circuit, any better had he tried.

His Mitchelton-Scott world tour teammates, led by Ararat’s Lucas Hamilton and Luke Durbridge, controlled the race from the front – not allowing any breakaways to get out of sight.

And Ewans was never far behind them.

"The feeling of winning never really gets old, so it's good to get the year off to a good start again," Ewan said.

"It's not the biggest race I do for the year, but it's really good to get the confidence boost at the start of the season."

Ewan said this was the strongest Mitchelton-Scott team he has had supporting him at the Australian criterium championship and they looked after him superbly.

Ewan now shapes as a contender for Sunday's road race at Buninyong.

"It depends on the conditions, to how well I can go.”

The five-day championships continue at Buninyong on Thursday with time trials, including para-cycling categories.

More cycling, page 38-39