Caleb Ewen calls out Jayco AlUla for 'bad situation' ahead of Ineos Grenadiers debut

Australian cyclist Caleb Ewan has publicly accused his former team, Jayco AlUla, of putting him in a "bad situation" before his transfer to Ineos Grenadiers.

Ewan left the Australian team earlier this year after being mysteriously removed from the Tour Down Under roster, despite having a year left on his contract. During the Tour Down Under, he confirmed his signing with the British team Ineos Grenadiers, which many speculated could be his last chance in his career.

In an interview with the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast, Ewan stated that the uncertainty surrounding his career led him to question whether he wanted to continue. Ewan added that he wasn't enjoying cycling amidst the team's antics and "political" atmosphere. "There was a point where I really didn't know what I wanted to do," Ewan said. "I was in a bad place with my team… All this stuff was happening, and I really didn't know what my future held. That was a really stressful time for me because of all that, I just really didn't know what I wanted. They put me in a bad situation, which wasn't ideal. But now I'm out of that, and happy to be with Ineos."

Geraint Thomas, who confirmed in early February that this would be his last season, stated that despite Ineos not traditionally being a team built for sprinters, having a sprint focus is important. "I think it's a great thing, from a team point of view, having a sprinter… young riders, it gives them a focus every day," Thomas said. "They learn so much from leading out and being on the side of the road and teamwork. When I heard everything that was going on with you, I was just like, it's a no-brainer for me. I think it's going to be a good year, and we'll focus more on the team, especially if Caleb can get back to his best. It'll open up 40% of the races."

Ewan raced for Jayco AlUla, then named Orica Greenedge, from 2014 to 2018, winning stages at the Vuelta a España and Giro d'Italia, before moving to Lotto Soudal for five years. The Sydney native won five Tour de France stages in his first two years with the Belgian team, but his performance gradually declined, leading to Ewan being heavily criticised by the team for abandoning the 2023 Tour de France. This prompted his return to the GreenEdge team, where he became the second sprinter behind Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen. However, the 2024 season did not go smoothly for the 30-year-old, especially at the 2024 Giro d'Italia, where Jayco AlUla adopted a hedging strategy in the final sprints, allowing German rider Max Walscheid – who became Ewan's lead-out man after Luka Mezgec's withdrawal – to compete against him.

"You guys were basically allowed to sprint for yourselves, right?" Thomas said. "Which just seems crazy to me." Ewan described the tactic as "weird" and said it led to an uncomfortable atmosphere within the team. "It was kind of like the back half of the Giro, I hadn't won anything, but I mean, that's the difference between a good lead-out man and a bad lead-out man," Ewan said, who failed to achieve a result higher than sixth in any of the sprint stages at the Giro d'Italia. "Like, my lead-out man in Lotto, Jasper [De Buyst], he would never at any point in the race say, 'I want to sprint myself now,' no matter how bad I was going or whatever, he always had 100% faith in me until the end that I could pull something out. Whereas, yeah, I went to Jayco, and with new riders, they just… I wouldn't say understandably lost faith, because it's not over until it's over, but it definitely makes it harder when your lead-out man is trying to sprint more than help you. Good lead-out men always have faith in their sprinter, and, like, it takes time to build that relationship. But when the team says, 'Your lead-out man is also going to sprint with you,' it's hard. It kind of ruins the whole team dynamic. I wouldn't say I blame them, because I hadn't won, and there were still a couple of sprint stages to go, but the guy that was supposed to be leading me out, I mean, I don't think he's ever won a World Tour race. So I don't know why, all of a sudden, they thought he was going to win a stage of the Giro. But that's just the way the team was, and I can't change that, and that's just the reality."

Ewan, who has only won three races in 2024, including the National Criterium Championships, acknowledged that he will not be the "main guy" at Ineos. However, Ewan believes he has found one of the main problems with his sprinting. "If I look back at the last four or five years, I think maybe I focused too much on climbing and getting stronger, and gave away a little bit of my sprint," Ewan said. "When I did the Giro last year, I got through it easier than I ever have, but I could barely sprint. I was nowhere in the sprints, so I was lacking what I should be good at, but better at something that's not necessarily important to me. If I look back at the tours that I've done well in, my team has had to help me so, so many days just to get to the finish. So I think that's one of the things we've identified since I've joined the team. I'm definitely going to go back to more, like, sprint-based stuff, even back to the track, so the main focus now is getting that speed back, which should be something that I'm naturally good at."

Ewan will begin his Ineos career on March 25 at the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, before heading to the Tour of Romandie on April 29. "That'll be my first race after six months off," Ewan said. "I think the team wants me to go there and see if what I've been doing is working… and then once we get to Romandie, basically every other week I'll be racing." Ewan said he hopes that "in an ideal world" he will ride the Tour de France, where he won five stages in his career in 2019 and 2020. "I think that's probably my biggest dream… to try and get back there and get back to my best, like I was a few years ago."