As a child, Caleb Ewan would be hooked to the television late into the night at his family home in Borwal, New South Wales, watching the Tour de France.
Mountains, flat roads, beautiful scenery and his heroes plastered the screen, filling Ewan’s minds with dreams and, most importantly, feeding a passion.
Last July, those dreams materialised for one of cycling’s most prodigious talents, nearly 17,000km away on the famed cobbles of the Champs d’Elysees in Paris.
The 25-year-old entered the pantheon of great sprinters with his three wins at the Tour, combining raw technical ability with sheer pace in a cauldron of pressure.
Two months later, victory at the Brussels Cycling Classic capped off a glittering maiden season at Lotto-Soudal with a sparkling 10 triumphs.
If there were any questions as to who is the world’s best sprinter at the moment, they only needed to look towards one man, especially given the quality of the races that he won.
Five of those 10 wins were at Grand Tours, two at the Giro d’Italia and three at the Tour. Wins most professionals can only dream of.
The next task for Ewan on this illustrious journey to greatness will be to continue that sizzling form into the depths 2020.
“I’m happy so far this year. My form is pretty good. I feel stronger. Maybe that’s because I finished a Grand Tour last year. I went for two years without doing one. Last year I did two – the Tour (de France) and then half of the Giro (d’Italia). This year I feel better and more relaxed,” he told Sport360.
“At the end of the day, you go to a race, all the work is done because you can’t do anything differently once you get to a race to improve. As long as you’re confident in the preparation that you’ve done and can be the best you can be. It’s all down to a bit of luck then. There’s not much you can change so you can’t be stressing about little things. Whatever happens, happens.”
His move to Lotto-Soudal in August 2018 has certainly borne fruit. He was always incredibly fast, but without a Tour de France start at previous employers Michelton-Scott he needed a change to get the best out of the next stage of his burgeoning career.
Men like Ewan deserve to be on the start line at the biggest races given their commitment to the battle and utterly devastating form.
Now, at the Belgian outfit, he appears confident, happier and faster than ever. This could be the season where he demonstrates he’s the titan of sprinting. The man on the cusp of brilliance.
A relaxed start to the year has him in blistering form at the right times, resting from some of the small early season races in Australia in a bid to keep him in prime shape for the bigger events. In a long season, it’s important to manage the schedule correctly to keep the body and mind sharp.
And if the Tour Down Under last month was any indication, he is in majestic shape.
He showed an enormous turn of pace to win the uphill sprint into Stirling on stage two, and punched out of the final bend to edge Sam Bennett on stage four. Two early wins surely boosting confidence coming into the UAE Tour next week.
“I wanted to start this season a bit more relaxed because, in other seasons, I used to do a few of the smaller races in Australia before the Tour Down Under like the Nationals. Usually when I get to Down Under I don’t know where my form is at, even though I’ve got a bit of racing in my legs already,” he said.
“This time I wanted to start my preparation a bit later, ease in and don’t do the smaller races to start with and start with Down Under. Now that the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia are in my programme, I want to keep my good legs for that time.
“I came off a little bit after the Tour Down Under but I’m going to try to bring it back up for the UAE Tour and use this to build my form for Paris-Nice and then on to Milan San Remo. That’ll be the big goal for this part of the year. As a sprinter, you want to try to collect wins along the way. All these races are goals as well.”
In 2019 no other sprinter won more than two Grand Tour stages apart from Ewan, his two in Italy adding to three tremendous victories at the Tour in July.
From January to September, he was consistent and class personified, recording 22 World Tour podium places, including three further successes at Tour of Turkey and UAE Tour.
If sprinters in cycling were like sharks, then Ewan would be a great white, refusing to give in to battle and always powerful at the right moments.
“Looking back on last year, the season started slowly. I didn’t get any wins Down Under, got one in the UAE, no wins in Paris-Nice, and didn’t go well in San Remo. That first important part of the season wasn’t great. I needed to re-focus. I started with Turkey and got two wins. That was my preparation race for the Giro so I took confidence from there into Italy,” he said.
“The start of the Giro wasn’t going well. I was always there but wasn’t winning. It felt like the year before when I was on the podium for most sprints that I did, but felt like I couldn’t win anything. I felt like I was almost repeating last year. But something clicked. From then on, I started winning more regularly.
“It was the same in the Tour. The first half, I was always on the podium, but something changed. When I look back, it was the most successful of my career so far.”
It was a highly impressive year and the hope is he can continue that stunning form into the Grand Tours this campaign.
His next focus is the UAE Tour, which starts on Sunday with a 148km jaunt from The Pointe to Dubai Silicon Oasis. It’s a country that has been good to him in previous years, having won stage 4 of the 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour and stage 4 of last year’s inaugural UAE Tour.
Ewan punched his fist in the air in delight after passing his rivals to win the short, yet steep climb to Hatta last February. It was his first win in the colours of Lotto-Soudal, and apart from the overall happiness, it took the pressure off him after securing his first victory with the new team.
Now, back in the Emirates again, he knows the task will be even more difficult, especially with the likes of Dylan Groenewegen, Fernando Gaviria and Bennett all in the hunt for wins on the flat stages too.
“The win on Hatta was my first win for Lotto so it was nice there to take the pressure off. It’s always hard to get that first win. It’s always hard to tell. It’s a super good field here for sprints. There is going to be no room for mistakes,” he said.
“I’ve got my lead out man with me here so that’ll be the first time we’ve raced together since the Tour de France. It will be good to have him back.
“I think, if our form is good, and the rest of the team, it should be a good week, but it’s going to be hard to get wins here.”
