Caleb Ewan (cycling) was expected to lead the Aussie charge in the men’s road race at his second Commonwealth Games in Birmingham but withdrew after undergoing shoulder surgery a week earlier. At his first Games in Glasgow in 2014, the then 20-year-old was the designated leader of the Australian team but wet conditions wreaked havoc with the field and he was undone by a three-rider breakaway.

Born to a Korean mother and Australian father, Ewan grew up in Moss Vale in the NSW southern highlands and won his first race aged 10. He told his parents that he had no desire to finish school and left Chevalier College after completing Year 11.

Like most top sprinters, the ‘Moss Vale Missile’ performed strongly as a track rider, winning the junior world title in the omnium in 2011 as well as the junior national omnium, Madison and points race titles. Those successes were sandwiched between a junior national road race title in 2010 and a junior road time trial in 2012. Ewan went on to win the Australian under-23 road race title in 2014 before embarking on his successful international career.

Since then, Ewan has joined an elite group of Australians to win a stage of cycling’s three grand tours, including five stage victories in the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia. He has also claimed two-second places in the Milan-San Remo, the world’s longest one-day classic.