Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) has said he is "heartbroken" after not being selected to represent Australia at his country’s home World Championships next month.
The 28-year-old, who won stage one of the Deutschland Tour on Wednesday, wrote on Twitter: “To be honest I don’t have much to say on the matter other than I’m heartbroken I won’t be there to represent my country and that I believe I deserved to be there.”
Ewan concluded the post by saying: “Anyways, sob story over.”
On Thursday, AusCycling announced the full road squad that will compete in Wollongong. The eight riders set to represent Australia in the men's elite event are Simon Clarke (Israel Premier-Tech), Luke Durbridge (BikeExchange-Jayco), Heinrich Haussler (Bahrain Victorious), Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco), Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën), Nick Schultz (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers). The latter will also contest the individual time trial.
Seven riders form Australia’s elite women’s squad, including Amanda Spratt, who will race her 10th World Championships. Spratt will be joined by her BikeExchange-Jayco teammates Alexandra Manly and Georgia Baker, as well as Grace Brown, Brodie Chapman (FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope) Sarah Roy (Canyon-SRAM) and Josie Talbot (Team Farto-BTC). Brown and Baker will compete in the individual time trial.
The squad announcement was expected to be made on Tuesday, but was delayed after AusCycling revealed that two athletes had appealed the selection. It is unknown whether Ewan was one of the riders who launched an appeal.
In his post-race interview at the Deutschland Tour, Ewan said: “Their [AusCycling’s] decision is their decision and it’s true that I haven’t been performing over the last few months.”
“I was super motivated to get ready and try to win [the World Championships], but like I said, they have their reasons and I have to respect that. It’s disappointing but I’m still going to use that form to try and end the season well.”
2022 has been a difficult year for the sprinter, with crashes at the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France causing him to fall short of a stage win at either Grand Tour. Ewan was previously tipped as an early favourite for the men's road race, however the 266.9km course, which counts almost 4,000m of climbing, may not be best suited to his abilities.
AusCycling’s full road squad for the 2022 UCI World Championships is listed below.
Men elite
Jai Hindley
Michael Matthews
Ben O’Connor
Lucke Plapp
Nick Schultz
Simon Clarke
Luke Durbridge
Heinrich Haussler
Women elite
Amanda Spratt
Georgia Baker
Grace Brown
Brodie Chapman
Alexandra Manly
Sarah Roy
Josie Talbot
Men U23
Matthew Dinham
Dylan George
Dylan Hopkins
Jensen Plowright
Rudy Porter
Men junior
Oscar Chamberlain
William Eaves
Hamish McKenzie
Cameron Rogers
Women junior
Talia Appleton
Belinda Bailey
Isabelle Carnes
Bronte Stewart
Lucinda Stewart
