It is no secret that 2023 was a difficult season for Caleb Ewan, from a win tally that all but flat-lined to a team relationship that went ‘pear shaped’ and a run of ever so close calls that, had they fallen into place, could have turned it all around.
“I never really got the ball rolling,” said Ewan of the early part of his season. “And then it was just kind of all downhill from there.”
The rider had already had what he characterised as an ‘average year’ in 2022 where the calibre of the wins wasn’t up to his usual level or his hopes, but it was nothing on what was to come. The lows of 2023 ran far deeper than the normal ups and downs from season to season for the 29-year-old, who had so recently been unquestionably considered as one of the very best sprinters in the world.
“I was super motivated all the way until probably the Tour [de France] and even going to the Tour I was very hopeful with what I could do, considering the start of my season,” Ewan told Cyclingnews. “But I think the team obviously probably weren't as hopeful as I was and I felt that in the support that they were giving me there.”
The preceding races weren’t his usual fare, his sprint train was understaffed, and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was on a scorching run of victories with the help of phenomenal lead-outs from Mathieu van der Poel. Even so, Ewan secured a third and second place on stages 3 and 4 of the Tour, but there wasn't exactly a flood of warmth generated by the hard-earned podium spots.
To put the nail in the coffin of an already souring relationship, after Ewan battled on through to stage 13 before abandoning, there was yet another harsh public dressing down from new team CEO Stéphane Heulot.
“The thing is to win at the highest level like that you really need a full team rallying behind you and I guess if I can take any positives from the Tour again, I wasn't so far off the pace,” said Ewan. “I almost won a stage so I know my level is still good enough to win the biggest races in the world but yeah I just need a fresh start, a team that's excited to have me.”
And that is where Australian WorldTour team Jayco-AlUla comes in.
No career without winning
When we met with Ewan, it was in the Australian Road National Championships hub of his new team in Ballarat, where he was being lauded as a key player in the team’s arsenal for the Australian summer of racing. He was about to step out the next evening and take on the criterium at the Road National championships, where he would land the win.
The crowd was so excited to see him back doing the rounds with the home WorldTour team that a chorus of ‘go Caleb’ could be heard whenever he jumped out of the pack – and sometimes even when he didn’t. The people lining the streets were so enamoured with the returning star that they seemed to figure any rider moving out of the bunch in a Jayco-AlUla jersey had to be Ewan.
It was a stark contrast to the situation just a few months ago, at a Belgian team that was instead enamoured with its local young success story Arnaud De Lie, and publicly scathing of the rider who had in previous seasons been such a big contributor to their win tally. The team situation looked so dire for Ewan that there was even some speculation that the rider, who still had another season left on his contract with Lotto-Dstny, may be contemplating retirement.
“I was never going to be retired in 2024,” said Ewan, though he added: “I'm not the type of rider that can kind of keep riding, not winning anything. My job is to win and once I stop winning and can't win anymore, then my place in cycling is pretty much over.”
Nor was Ewan optimistic about his chances of a reboot of his winning ways at Lotto-Dstny.
“I thought if I had to do another year with Lotto, then I was just going to kind of battle through the year – and it just wouldn't have worked – but I would have done another year and seen how it went.”
That however, wasn’t a situation that Ewan or the team wanted and the wrecking ball that was hanging over Ewan’s career was quickly replaced by a road map to revival when the announcement came through of a return to the Australian WorldTour squad where he started his professional career.
A year without the Tour de France
“My mindset is good,” said Ewan when Cyclingnews spoke to him in Ballarat, a claim his demeanour certainly tallied with. “This year I won't do the Tour, which is a bit of a change from the last few years, but I don't mind that.
“I feel like this year is a year to kind of rebuild and find my feet again and hopefully just the main goal this year is just to start winning again and getting that confidence back.”
Given the outcome of the 2023 Tour de France, Ewan, in fact, said a return in 2024 could even potentially be detrimental if he ended up walking away without a victory.
“The next time I get to Tour I really want to feel like I'm really ready, there to win stages and be really competitive,” said Ewan. “So yeah I'm really happy with the way this year is structured.
“I've got some really big goals as well, so that's all I need. As long as I have big goals in front of me, and something to work towards, then I’m happy.”
While it will be Dylan Groenewegen lining up for the team at the French Grand Tour in July, Ewan will be returning to the Giro d’Italia and likely the Vuelta a España, and there is also a target drawn around Milan-San Remo, where the rider has twice come second. Plus, of course, there is the hope that if all goes well, the Tour de France could be back in the lens in 2025.
First, however, there is the Australian season to think about, which has already started with a criterium national title win in his first race with Jayco-AlUla. Next up is the first WorldTour race of the season, the Tour Down Under, which runs from Tuesday January 16 to Sunday January 21, and offers a chance for Ewan to claim his first WorldTour win since early 2022.
“This is all about trying to get back into winning ways and it's really going to start here,” said Ewan in Ballarat on the day before he claimed his criterium title. “You know, if I start that in Australia, that would really get my confidence back up and as a sprinter, confidence is so important.
“I really hope for a very good start and to be able to go back to Europe with a few wins and then yeah, if the season starts, well it kind of really gets the ball rolling.”
The first four stages at the Tour Down Under are where the opportunities for the sprinters lie, as the final two stages delivering summit finishes, and it in those early stages that Ewan will be hoping to begin his rise back to the top ranks by getting the better of the likes of Sam Welsford, Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious).
Finding that winning momentum again is just what he needs to forget the season past and make this year one to remember.
"If I can look back on the season and say that I was one of the best sprinters in the world, then I'd be happy,” said Ewan. “That's going to come with lots of big, big wins – wins in the Giro, Vuelta, here in Australia, lots of WorldTour wins.
“I want to get back to that level that I was probably, a few years ago, where if you ask someone ‘who is the best sprinter in the world?’ that – I don't need to be the top – but I was in the conversation as one of the best."
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