The organisers of the Santos Tour Down Beneath have confirmed that Caleb Ewan might be on the beginning line competing along with his new workforce Jayco-AlUla in 2024.
Ewan is a nine-time stage winner at his residence WorldTour race, and he and his workforce might be aiming for a number of wins throughout the males’s occasion held from January 16-21 in and round Adelaide, Australia.
“I’ve all the time loved racing in Adelaide. It’s an effective way to start out off the 12 months, and the help we get from Aussie crowds is unimaginable,” Ewan stated.
“I really feel I’ve unfinished enterprise within the Santos Tour Down Beneath and might’t wait to get again there, racing for Workforce Jayco-AlUla this January.”
Ewan is the primary rider the organisers have confirmed to compete within the 2024 version.
Ewan ended his contract with Lotto-Dstny a 12 months early, and an announcement from Jayco-AlUla rapidly adopted to verify that he would return to the squad the place he began his profession, transferring from the event workforce to the WorldTour degree in 2014.
A five-time Tour de France and Giro d’Italia stage winner, Ewan joins a workforce of highly effective sprinters at Jayco-AlUla subsequent 12 months that features compatriot Michael Matthews and Dylan Groenewegen.
Ewan left Lotto-Dstny after a season of stress and disappointment. Roughly half of his 61 profession professional wins have been secured throughout his 5 seasons with Lotto. In 2023, nonetheless, he solely gained one occasion. Though he was near victory in two early sprints on the Tour de France, he then struggled via the mid-race mountain phases earlier than abandoning on stage 13, which drew out sturdy criticism from workforce supervisor Stephane Heulot.
Stuart O’Grady, race director on the Santos Tour Down Beneath, stated it was a serious coup having a rider of Ewan’s calibre on the beginning line, choosing out three of the phases he predicts Ewan will goal.
“Caleb might be out to show he is likely one of the quickest sprinters on the planet. He’s a fan favorite on the Santos Tour Down Beneath, and we are able to anticipate he might be out difficult within the Ziptrak Males’s Stage 1 Tanunda to Tanunda, Stage 3 Tea Tree Gully to Campbelltown, and in addition the Hahn Stage 4 Murray Bridge to Port Elliot,” O’Grady stated.