🎥 Retired Ewan casually outsprints Van Poppel and Welsford, but may soon face Pogacar and Lavreysen

At his peak, Ewan was one of the fastest sprinters in the world. He won five stages in the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, and also one in the Vuelta a España. In total he struck 65 times, although his palmarès became a bit drier in his later years. But his 31 WorldTour victories are not likely to be forgotten anytime soon. And even now, the “Pocket Rocket” still lets his legs do the talking.

He may have retired, but Ewan’s speed remains high. On his Instagram, the former rider — who rode for teams including Jayco AlUla and Lotto Soudal — has shared multiple videos of training sprints against well-known professional riders. The first to take the hit was Sam Welsford, the rider from INEOS Grenadiers who is known as the fastest Australian sprinter of the moment.

Welsford won three stages at the Tour Down Under last year, but against his retired countryman he couldn’t compete. Ewan beat him fairly simply. The next “victim”? Dutch champion Danny van Poppel, who beat Olav Kooij in the fight for the Dutch title last year, but on pure speed was also beaten by the Australian — and not by just a little bit either…

“Who’s next?” reads Ewan’s challenge on his Instagram posts. He might now regret that. Philippe Gilbert would like to beat him, and none other than Tadej Pogacar is also queued up. “But first we’re doing 8 hours in my Zone 2,” the world champion joked. The loser Van Poppel also suggested a challenger: “Harrie Lavreysen — please show him what sprinting really is,” the Dutchman joked.

Whether the multiple Olympic track champion will rise to the challenge still remains to be seen. But at least one track specialist is already chomping at the bit to teach Ewan a lesson: Matthew Richardson, the British-Australian world champion, replied dryly with “Me.” He broke the world record in the 200-metre time trial last August… so it’s quite a handful indeed.