Caleb Ewan is set to start racing with Ineos Grenadiers at Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali near the end of March and he'll be pinning a number on for the first time in seven months not only in new colours but also on the back of a whole new training approach.
“What I am looking to do differently with Caleb is trying to introduce the track again," Mehdi Kordi – Ewan's new coach and head of performance, sport and innovation at Ineos Grenadiers – said in a video interview put out by the team.
"It was something he was very good at as a junior, hasn’t done since and I want to introduce that back to see if we can get that edge."
Ewan, who won the junior Omnium world title in 2011, said he expected the track will "really help with the speed" as he works to find his way back to the form that made him a prolific winner through to 2022 and helped net him five stage victories each at the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia between 2017 and 2021.
“You always want to be at your best, you always want to win more," said Ewan in the interview put out by Ineos Grenadiers. "The last few years haven’t been great so I hope this year that I can come back to where my best was and win the races that I was winning when I was at my best.”
Ewan is a rider who, until now, had only ever raced with two teams – the Lotto Soudal/Lotto Dstny squad and the Australian team now known as Jayco-AlUla, which he returned to in 2024 after the relationship with the Belgian team had soured and his win total had plummeted. It wasn't however, the hoped-for path to rejuvenation.
Still, the 30-year-old sprinter did take a number of victories in 2024, starting with the Australian criterium title and also including stage 1 of the Tour of Oman, Vuelta a Castilla y Leon and stage 2 of the Vuelta a Burgos but it wasn't up to the standard of much of his career. Then it became clear at the start of this year that all was not right for Ewan and Jayco-AlUla when he wasn't on the roster on the team's website.
In stepped Ineos Grenadiers, with a contract for 2025 which Ewan grabbed with both hands, jumping in the car to join the squad well-populated with riders he was already well-acquainted with at a training camp in Spain as soon as he signed on the dotted line. That was the start of what Ewan described as "an easier transition".
“I think the first few months will be a lot about building, probably similar to what guys were doing in December I’m probably doing now," said Ewan.
"So I’ll start the season a little bit later which is a little bit different for me, usually I start kind of early in Tour Down Under so I think it will change my season a little bit, starting later, but I think it can be beneficial as well.”
The first event for Ewan, Coppi e Bartali, is a five-stage 2.1 ranked race in Italy from March 25 to 29. It will be the first time the Australian has lined up at a race since the Super 8 Classic in Belgium on September 21, 2024.
"I’ve still got quite a bit of time before my first race so it kind of gives me time to really build up properly,” said Ewan.
“I’m excited, it should be a good year.”
