After his breakaway win in the opening criterium, Caleb Ewan continued his dominance of the four-day Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic by winning the second race too. This time he benefited from a perfect lead-out to win a bunch sprint ahead of lead-out man Mitchell Docker and Richard Kluge.

Young gun Caleb Ewan has continued his fairytale start to 2015, his first full season as a professional, taking out the second criterium at the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic this afternoon.

Unlike yesterday’s victory, which came from a two-man breakaway, Ewan sat back until the final moments to take the sprint victory courtesy of his team’s lead-out.

Sheltered from the belting winds by his teammates all day, the 20-year-old said his job was easy in the finish after a strong ORICA-GreenEDGE controlled much of the day’s action.

“As you saw the boys pretty much rode on the front from start to finish and blew the race to pieces,” Ewan said. “I didn’t have to touch the wind the whole race.”

“That was the plan for Mitch (Docker) to lead me out at the finish. The other guys took Mitch, Heppy (Michael Hepburn) and I to 500metres to go and once they hit the front the race was done.”

Unlike the women’s race, the action in the men’s began from the gun, a two-rider move establishing a 25second gap.  The duo were joined by a chase group, policed by ORICA-GreenEDGE rider Leigh Howard, before South Australian Miles Scotson made a counter solo attempt.

But all was back together thanks to the work of ORICA-GreenEGDE’s Damien Howson and Cameron Meyer who controlled the peloton for much of the race.

In the end, the remaining power of Hepburn and Docker in the lead-out was too much for their opponents, setting up another confortable win for Ewan to extend his overall lead in the series.

Sport director Matt Wilson said the team was content to let the race play out with the overall aim a sprint finish for Ewan.

“The guys didn’t need to do anything fancy,” Wilson explained. “We had the lead and we have probably the fastest guy in the race so the guys were just up there covering, which is what you saw Leigh (Howard) do, and then they just controlled it behind to make sure nothing got too out of hand.

“You saw there was only four or five guys left to sprint in the finish and we still had two fresh guys there to lead Caleb out.”

The Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic moves to Portarlington tomorrow for the penultimate criterium.

Result:

1. Caleb EWAN (Orica GreenEDGE) 1h00:48
2. Mitchell DOCKER (Orica GreenEDGE) 2
3. Richard KLUGE (Total Rush Hyster) 2
4. Michael HEPBURN (Orica GreenEDGE) 4
5. Patrick SHAW (Avanti Racing) 10
6. Joseph LEWIS (Total Rush Hyster) 14
7. Kristian HOUSE (JLT Condor p/b Mavic) 19
8. Greg HENDERSON (NZ National Team) 25
9. Cameron MEYER (Orica GreenEDGE) 25
10. Jack HAIG (Avanti Racing) 36

General classification:

1. Caleb EWAN (Orica GreenEDGE) 24 pt
2. Greg HENDERSON (NZ National Team) 13
3. Mitchell DOCKER (Orica GreenEDGE) 10
4. Joseph LEWIS (Total Rush Hyster) 9
5. Richard KLUGE (Total Rush Hyster) 8
6. Ian BIBBY (Chain Reaction) 8
7. Michael HEPBURN (Orica GreenEDGE) 7
8. Luke PARKER (Total Rush Hyster) 7
9. Patrick SHAW (Avanti Racing) 6
10. Kristian HOUSE (JLT Condor p/b Mavic) 6