Caleb Ewan will remain at Lotto Soudal until the end of the 2024 season after signing a contract extension with the Belgian squad. On Tuesday, Lotto Soudal also announced the departure of both Marc Sergeant and Herman Frison from the management team at the end of this season, as well as the addition of Rüdiger Selig to Ewan’s lead-out train.
Ewan’s existing deal was due to expire at the end of next season, but the Australian has agreed to terms on an additional two years with the team.
“I feel very much at home at Lotto Soudal, it is a team I am proud to represent and together we have achieved some wonderful results but I am committed to ensuring this is only the beginning, we have some exciting times ahead,” Ewan said in a statement on Tuesday.
Ewan signed for Lotto Soudal from Mitchelton-Scott ahead of the 2019 season and he won a hat-trick of stages in his Tour de France debut that same year. He won two more Tour stages in 2020, but he was forced out of this year’s race early after breaking his collarbone in a crash on stage 3.
The 27-year-old has also won four stages of the Giro d’Italia during his tenure at Lotto Soudal, as well as Scheldeprijs and the Brussels Cycling Classic.
“I believe we have much improvement within us and I am really looking forward to working with our sprint train of Jasper De Buyst, Roger Kluge, Harry Sweeny and Frederik Frison, as well as those that are soon to join our squad,” said Ewan. “I think we can achieve great things.”
Ewan has resumed training on the road following his Tour crash but he has yet to confirm when he will return to competition. Last week, Directeur Sportif Nikolas Maes told Het Nieuwsblad there was a “fifty-fifty” chance of Ewan lining up at the Vuelta a España, which gets underway in Burgos on August 14.
On Tuesday, Lotto Soudal also confirmed the addition of Selig to Ewan’s lead-out train. The German arrives from Bora-Hansgrohe on a two-year contract.
“In my opinion, Caleb Ewan is the fastest sprinter in the world,” Selig said. “So, I am really happy that both the team and Caleb believe in me. It is with great pleasure that I will give it my all for Caleb the coming seasons. I already can’t wait!”
Sergeant and Frison
Near the end of the same lengthy statement, Lotto Soudal announced the departure of both former team manager Marc Sergeant and longstanding directeur sportif Herman Frison at the end of this season. Sergeant was general manager at Lotto from 2003 until the end of 2017, when he moved into a purely sporting role.
Paul De Geyter spent a year as Lotto Soudal general manager before John Lelangue took over ahead of the 2019 season. Lelangue revealed on Tuesday that Nikolas Maes will become a full-time sports director at Lotto Soudal next season following Sergeant and Frison’s depatures.
“In line with our team evolution, we will say goodbye, at the end of 2021, to Herman Frison and Marc Sergeant, both end of contract, but two real Lotto monuments,” said Lelangue. “Their importance for the team cannot be stressed enough. Both were and still are the faces of the team, first as riders, later as sports director and team manager. We have experienced countless successes and unforgettable moments together. A big thank you for all of this, Herman and Marc.”
Frison’s nephew Frederik Frison, meanwhile, has signed a two-year contract extension with the team.
