Special report: How Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan is preparing for the biggest race of his life - the Tour de France in July
EVERY pedal stroke Caleb Ewan makes this season will be about preparing for his Tour de France debut in July. Reece Homfray followed the Mitchelton-Scott team during the Tour Down Under for this special report on Australia’s emerging sprinter.
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He is definitely growing as a leader. He’s always been a winner, but there’s a big difference between winners and leaders and he’s developing into a good leader as well.’
- Matt White.
IT WAS after 9pm when the seven Mitchelton-Scott riders filed into Matt White’s hotel room at the Hilton to dissect what had just happened in Adelaide.
If their gun sprinter Caleb Ewan had won the People’s Choice Classic, White reckons the debrief would have lasted 10 minutes, they’d pat themselves on the back and go to dinner.
But Ewan ran third - no disgrace given Peter Sagan and Andre Greipel went 1-2 - and the debrief instead went for nearly 40 minutes.
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White is a big believer in learning more when you lose than when you win, and if Ewan is going to beat these guys at the Tour de France in July then the more work they do in January the better.
“A lot of it was run by the guys, and until we get footage, the guys have a better idea of what’s gone on than me anyway,” White explained.
“Caleb is naturally quite introverted and quiet but he’s improving and that’s coming with confidence in the group and confidence in himself. Most young kids aren’t vocal and he’s surrounded by a lot of experienced guys.
“He is definitely growing as a leader. He’s always been a winner, but there’s a big difference between winners and leaders and he’s developing into a good leader as well.
“You usually aren’t as critical as a group when you are winning, but the difference between winning and losing in sprinting can be minute.
“The plan was to sit on the right side of the fence and make a move in the last kilometre and Caleb came around the corner in fifth wheel and got a nice old shunt from Andre Greipel, and he reacted and started off the sprint.
“We came here to win and when you don’t - because we set the bar pretty high this year - you do look at ways of improvement.
“He puts a hell of a lot of pressure on himself. I think at times I’ve seen too much, but he’s managing that expectation as well.”
Ewan is a born winner but the game is changing.
The 23-year-old who dominated the domestic scene, then won over 10 races in his neo-pro season and has Grand Tour stage wins in the Giro and Vuelta is about to be unleashed in the biggest race of them all - the Tour de France in July.
“We’ve always wanted to keep him winning by manipulating his race program right from when he started, chasing easier wins and giving him a gradual progress over a three-and-a-half year process and now we’re ready for the Tour,” White said.
“He’s won at the Vuelta and the Giro, he won a third of our races last year, so he’s no stranger to winning, but we’ve been gradually upping the ante and everything we do from now until July is working on that.”
Just over 24 hours before the meeting in White’s hotel room and the “shunt” from Greipel in the opening crit, Ewan was joking with the German giant on the pool deck at the Hilton.
The pair agreed to be photographed together to promote the start of the TDU and while Ewan sat on a stationary bike attached to an ergo on the pool’s edge, Greipel couldn’t resist.
“I’ll put you in the water,” Greipel joked as he leant on Ewan’s shoulder but with enough poker-face to suggest that he might just be serious.
Greipel had just come from the pre-race press conference where he was asked to give his thoughts about Ewan who has now established himself as a regular at the front of the WorldTour peloton.
“My impression is I have no slipstream behind him, that makes it difficult,” Greipel said again half-joking, half-serious.
But he’s right. Given Ewan’s size - 165cm and 61kg - he’s almost impossible to sit behind and that was one of the reasons he had to give up team pursuiting on the track because the riders behind him constantly had their faces in the wind.
Size however has never bothered Ewan and nor has it stopped him. In fact his ability to get so aerodynamic that his chin is almost below his handlebars has made him go faster, despite retired Aussie sprinter Graeme Brown claiming it cost Ewan a stage win at the TDU because his back wheel was “skipping around”.
“I wasn’t really intimidated by them,” Ewan said of coming up against bigger and stronger rivals in his first few pro seasons.
“I guess I could come to these races with those bigger riders and not have as much pressure because no one really expected me to beat those guys.
“Where as now I’ve come into the race and I have a lot of pressure because I am expected to beat them, so that’s been a big difference.”
Ewan has beaten Greipel, Sagan, Fernando Gaviria (twice), Alexander Kristoff, Elia Viviani and John Degenkolb in Europe and although the Tour de France will be another step up again, White backs him 100 per cent.
“When it comes to pure head-to-head speed he is confident he can beat anybody. Sagan is obviously a much more versatile package, he’s won three world titles on three very different courses,” White said.
“Caleb will never be Peter Sagan but what we’re trying to develop Caleb into is the number one sprinter in the world.”
Stage 1 of the TDU from Port Adelaide to Lyndoch was the first chance the sprinters had to make their mark on the race proper.
Greipel not only got his timing right but simply had too much speed for his rivals while Ewan ran second and said he needed to train his body to sprint at its maximum for longer.
“The team did a perfect lead-out and at the end of the day it was my fault that I didn’t win,” Ewan said.
“To be honest he was just better in the closing stages, maybe in hindsight I went too early again but usually I can hold my sprint for that long.
“It’s something that I want to train myself to do because if I can only sprint for 150 metres then I run the risk of always being boxed in and it’s something I’ll try to keep doing.
“The sprint field here is better than it has been the last few years, and I’m happy for it to be like that because I am going to be racing these guys in some of the more serious races.
“It’s good to get a feel of how they sprint and I’ll be analysing these sprints and seeing where their weaknesses may be and how I can improve against them.”
It wouldn’t surprise me if he turns up and his best result is a fifth or sixth, because that’s the kind of race it is.’
- Mark Renshaw
FOR the best part of the last decade, Mark Renshaw has been known as the best lead-out man in the world and has been to the Tour de France nine times alongside Mark Cavendish.
He also knows Ewan better than most given they are both from NSWIS and now live in Monaco where they train together regularly.
“He’s probably the guy I train with the most during the year,” Renshaw said.
“I know him really well, he’s got all the qualities to be a good sprinter - a little bit cocky, he knows he’s good, and he works hard.
“I give him some curry - I’ll give him some when we get out there today about yesterday (stage into Victor Harbor), he definitely shouldn’t be hesitating, that cost him the win.”
When Ewan debuts at the Tour in July, Renshaw said he would experience something like never before.
“The Tour is totally different to the Vuelta and Giro, there’s no presence there, (at the Tour) you’ve got to be on the front foot and on the ball,” Renshaw said.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if he turns up and his best result is a fifth or sixth, because that’s the kind of race it is, everyone is on their top form.
“But on the other hand you know he’s capable of winning a stage so it’s all about team work and positioning.
“His weakest point is going to be fighting at the finish because he’s just not big, he’s small and easy to move, you saw him bounce off Greipel the other day like a ricochet.
“He needs to be out of trouble as much as possible and if he has to hit out early to avoid that then he has to.”
As much as Renshaw would be proud to see Ewan take a stage at the Tour, he will be doing everything possible for one of Ewan’s biggest rivals in Cavendish.
“I’d be a lot happier if Cav wins that’s for sure. It would be great for Australian cycling and Caleb but I’ll be trying for Cav and we’ll have to beat Greipel and Kittel and all these other great guys who are there.”
But Ewan is used to proving people wrong. Stage 2 of the TDU from Unley to Stirling was 148km and finished with a nasty uphill sprint.
Most didn’t give Ewan a chance, despite the fact that his 2015 Vuelta a Espana stage win was on a very similar parcours at the finish.
When they turned for home it was Ewan who came off Daryl Impey’s back wheel perfectly and was too fast for McCarthy, Sagan and Haas.
“It’s probably more exciting winning on a stage that you’re more unsure about,” Ewan said.
“Obviously by this time last year I had a few wins by the second stage so my confidence went down a little but it was great to see the team’s confidence didn’t go down at all, and they backed me on a stage that didn’t suit me that well.
“I think so for sure (this is my best TDU stage win) because it was on a finish that didn’t suit me, and probably suited Sagan better than it suited me, so to get one up on him was a bonus.
“The Vuelta when I was a neo-pro was an uphill finish from about 1km to go so it was a different finish to this but still uphill.
“I want to repay the team for the work they’ve done the past few days and give confidence back to them and also myself going into the next few stages.”
It’s nice he thinks we can take it on from 15km out and it’s for us to say ‘hey mate it’s not going to happen’.’
- Mathew Hayman
MATHEW Hayman turns 40 in April, which is almost double Ewan’s age, yet the two have a very close relationship as teammates and friends.
It was forged in Ewan’s first pro season when they would often room together at races and now they’re involved in regular banter on and off the bike including on social media.
“I’ve always been impressed, since I first raced with him, he’s got a lot of the attributes that I think you need to be a top sprinter,” Hayman said.
“He’s fiercely competitive, he really wants to win, he’s got the skillset as good as Cavendish or McEwen as far as being able to ride a messy sprint, and now we’re working on trying to get him off a nice lead-out train.
“Talent he has enough of and personality traits too. You can’t change him too much because that killer instinct you need as a sprinter.”
Asked whether Ewan is too easily bumped off the wheel in a sprint, Hayman said that was simply not right.
“No he’s right, he just holds his own and you don’t always have to use force,” he said.
“His agility on the bike is pretty good without having to hit people and as we saw the other day a couple of guys tried to take the wheel off him when it was quite clearly his and he didn’t let it happen so I’m yet to see him get really hammered off the wheel and if he does it’s because he’s made the decision that it’s not worth the fight and the energy.
“He’s his own worst enemy as far as putting pressure on himself. If he’s won as much as he has, he’s still kicking himself about the stage he should have won in Victor Harbor and that’s great - he shouldn’t be happy to lose there.
“Sometimes he’s a bit unrealistic about our ability but that’s for us to tell him what we can and can’t do, but that’s nice also to have someone who thinks his team is capable of a lot - so it’s nice he thinks we can take it on from 15km out and it’s for us to say ‘hey mate it’s not going to happen’.”
Hayman said working with riders like Ewan helped keep him young.
“It’s good for me, I enjoy hanging out with the younger guys and they’re kind of between my kids and my age,” he said.
“I get a lot out of it and there are a lot of other young guys in the team.
“He’s been brought up well too so don’t think there aren’t any manners. We have a bit of banter but there is a lot of respect there too.”
While Ewan is confirmed for the Tour de France in July, Hayman is not but he is on the long-list and will be ready and willing if required.
“I also know what the Tour is, yeah my name is on the list and I put my hand up if I feel like I’m going really well and people feel I’m a big part of that then yeah,” he said.
“It takes a lot of commitment to go there, and it’s not all fun, the sprint stages might be nice but there are mountain stages as well and I’ve suffered in Tours.
“But if the team wants me there I’ll do what I need to do. People look at it as three weeks in July but it’s not, it’s taking 2-3 months out of your life to prepare for that and to do it properly you need to be in great condition and that means missing a lot of other things.”
Caleb made a few mistakes and it cost him and we (team) also made a few mistakes but we are learning from that and we would rather do it here than the Tour de France.’
- Daryl Impey.
If the stage win in Stirling was the highlight of the week for Ewan then Stage 3 from Glenelg to Victor Harbor was the lowlight where the win was there for the taking but Ewan looked behind and was caught out by Elia Viviani.
“We had a plan going into the final, we knew where you had to be in that sprint because it’s quite a technical run-in,” White said.
“The boys took total control and delivered him in a very good position but he waited too long and got jumped by Viviani.
“He’s a young guy and he’s under a lot of pressure and everyone makes mistakes, he’ll learn from it, like in Abu Dhabi when he threw his hands in the air and it cost him the stage win when Kittel rolled him.
“You’re always a lot more critical and analytical when you’re not winning and we got some nice wins but there were some close calls as well.
“The dynamic of the group I was really happy with and the composure of the guys considering the team we had with Jack Bauer new to the team, Cam Meyer coming back after three years.
“I was very, very happy, regardless of the result it’s pretty exciting times for the combination of people we will get in front of Caleb.”
Mitchelton-Scott managed to juggle its two priorities at the TDU by delivering Ewan to the line while also working to help Daryl Impey win the ochre jersey.
“I think he’s learned from a few mistakes,” Impey said of Ewan’s results at the TDU.
“Last year he came here he was definitely the fastest by a country mile and this year the competition is a lot fiercer, and it’s good for him.
“Caleb made a few mistakes and it cost him and we (team) also made a few mistakes but we are learning from that and we would rather do it here than the Tour de France.
“It’s a great stepping stone and Caleb is also learning to work with all of us again.
“He hasn’t been off the podium yet on a flat day so he’s around the mark and it’s really good signs for the season.”
‘Does he get dropped off in the right position or come from behind like an ambush that you’ve seen Marcel Kittel do really successfully over the years?’
- Robbie McEwen
AUSTRALIA’S most successful ever sprinter Robbie McEwen, who won the green jersey at the Tour de France three times, has watched Ewan’s progress closely.
“I think physically he can be ready, the big thing going into this year is the psychological side which is maybe the hardest,” McEwen said.
“The psychological influences the physical. Orica for a couple of years have been going for GC, sending GC guys to the Tour, almost keeping Caleb under their wing.
“He hasn’t had a full team behind him with all that expectation. Now the’re saying ‘everything for Caleb at the Tour’ and all bar two guys will be there for him.
“That’s an added layer of pressure and also the fact that everybody follows the Tour and that weight of expectation you’ve got to put to one side, and I think he can handle it.”
McEwen watched Ewan ride at the TDU and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and believes it was a smart move by the team to announce he would ride the Tour de France back in December.
“I could be wrong but I get the impression that now that he’s been pre-selected for the Tour and the team is saying ‘this is what’s happening, Caleb’s our man’ that possibly he might have struggled with that (initially),” McEwen said.
“It may have affected the way he was riding in Tour Down Under, I think so in the beginning.
“But maybe they did that to let him work through that pressure and expectation rather than have it all come at once (in July).
“The media attention and then the race itself would be a lot at once, so I think it was a good plan to say it now and by the time he gets there they’ve reduced the hype.
“By the last day (of the TDU) I thought he looked to have shrugged that off, and only got beaten by a super Greipel.
“Caleb got very out of position and came from a long way behind which forced him to go early and he almost held on.
“On that last day he seemed to get his mojo back.
“Then I watched him at the Towards Zero race and I think his legs just left him.”
McEwen also said Ewan was still trying to work out what sort of train and positioning works best for him in a sprint.
“He will discover through the first half of the season what’s working and what’s not,” he said.
“And he will figure out the best way to use a full train, whether it’s to use it the textbook way from the front or do something a bit different and get dropped off in the right position or come from behind like an ambush that you’ve seen Marcel Kittel do really successfully over the years.
“Caleb still has a few things to figure out but he’s making very good progression for such a young guy.
“People that have expectations on his performances this year like he’s already a veteran or seasoned rider, but he’s only 23.
“It’s easy to get your legs in form but the confidence is the secret ingredient.”
Ewan returned to Europe two weeks ago and his next race will be the one-day Clasica de Almeria this Sunday followed by the Tour of Abu Dhabi from February 21-25.
The plan is to then race Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo - where he finished 10th last year - before having a break and riding the Tour of California en route to the Tour de France which begins on July 7.
“Obviously it means a lot, growing up watching the Tour - for the first few years when I was really young - that was the only race I really watched,” Ewan said.
“So since I started riding at nine or 10 years old I’ve followed the Tour and it’s a dream to get a start there, so I’m super-excited for it.”
Originally published as Special report: How Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan is preparing for the biggest race of his life - the Tour de France in July