Four stages of the 2017 Santos Tour Down Under, three wins for Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott). If you include the People’s Choice Classic criterium the equation is four from five. Go back even further and you can add the Australian National criterium title and a stage of the Bay Crits.

In short: it’s been an impressive start to the year for Caleb Ewan. Sure, he’s not racing against the world’s best sprinters and world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) is clearly out of form. But still, Ewan set himself those early-season goals and he’s achieved them.

Perhaps most impressive about Ewan’s sprinting this week has been his ability to fight through traffic; to get himself into a winning position from anything but. He’s been patient, read the sprints well and delivered the victories his team expects of him.

Ewan will get his chance again on stage 6 but before then it’s another day for the climbers with tomorrow’s stage 5 to Willunga. Richie Porte (BMC) looks unshakeable atop the general classification, but his many fans will be hoping he’s not too defensive; that he takes the opportunity to attack if it’s presented to him. Four straight wins on Willunga would be quite something.

In the meantime, check out the following gallery of images from stage 4 of the Tour Down Under, courtesy of Tim Bardsley-Smith.