2024 Season Review | Team Jayco AlUla: Caleb Ewan and SImon Yates fail to find their best form, but Eddie Dunbar and Michael Matthews provide big results

We’re reaching the end of our reviews for the 2024 season for the WorldTour teams, and the squads will now be starting to prepare for what is set to be another tough year in 2025. Today, the team we’re looking at is Team Jayco AlUla, and the team from down under entered their 12th season as a WorldTour team with high expectations.

Known for their strong Australian and New Zealand core, the team has built a reputation for consistent performances and has some memorable victories throughout its history. Managed by Brent Copeland, the squad has seen notable wins in the past from riders like Simon Yates and Caleb Ewan. However, the 2024 season, which saw them finish 14th in the rankings with 10,625.3 points and 25 wins, highlighted both the team’s potential and its struggles. In fact, they impressively have managed to go under the radar and avoided some critics despite having a pretty poor year overall.

The Australian team, backed by Jayco and AlUla, has long been a beacon of southern hemisphere cycling talent. Riders like Michael Matthews and Dylan Groenewegen continued to provide big points, but cracks in the team's consistency were evident, and it is definitely time for a reshuffle. Compared to their 13th-place finish in 2023, slipping one spot in the rankings was a result of a year of underwhelming Grand Tour results and questions about the direction of some key riders’ careers. With a roster largely built for stage races rather than one-day classics, 2024 proved to be a mixed bag for the team and there are definitely some questions heading forward.

Team Jayco AlUla is not a squad traditionally built for one-day races, yet they managed seven victories across the year. The season began on a high note with Luke Plapp’s double triumph at the Australian National Championships, winning both the road race and time trial. These victories showcased the team’s depth in Australian cycling talent and got the ball rolling for the year very early on.

Dylan Groenewegen added wins at the Tour of Limburg and Gran Premi Valencia, reaffirming his place as one of the world’s very best sprinters. Meanwhile, Michael Matthews was in great form and delivered some of the team’s most significant moments in the spring classics. Matthews’ second-place finish at Milano-Sanremo behind Jasper Philipsen secured 200 points for the team, their second-largest haul of the year, and he was very unlucky not to win the monument. However, Matthews was unfortunate at the Tour of Flanders, where he was penalised after the sprint and denied a podium finish. Despite these setbacks, Matthews also achieved a top-ten finish at the Amstel Gold Race, marking him as one of the team’s bright spots during the early season. He was crucial for the team getting early points.

Unfortunately, Caleb Ewan’s struggles were a major storyline for the team in 2024. Once considered one of the peloton’s best sprinters, Ewan’s return to Jayco AlUla was meant to rejuvenate his career, but his performances fell short of expectations. While he managed to win Stage 1 of the Tour of Oman, the 30-year-old failed to deliver consistently and remains a shadow of his former self. For a man that won 5 Tour de France stages across 2019 and 2020, he was way off the pace this year and it has now been three years since he won a grand tour stage.

Simon Yates provided a moment of joy with a Stage 5 win and overall victory at the AlUla Tour, earning the team a much needed 100 points. Chris Harper and Luke Plapp contributed with sixth-place finishes at the Volta a Catalunya and Paris-Nice, respectively, securing 110 points each. Still, these performances were not enough to lift what was ultimately a quiet spring for the team.

Jayco AlUla entered 2024 expecting to compete for victories at each Grand Tour as they usually do, but the season told a different story. Historically strong in Grand Tours, the team endured a tough year with limited success on cycling’s biggest stages.

The Giro d’Italia proved to be a non-starter for the team. Whilst Luke Plapp had moments of promise, he was not competing for the general classification, and this left the team without a GC rider in the top 10, an unusual shortfall for Jayco AlUla. At the Tour de France, Dylan Groenewegen finally provided a glimmer of hope with a sprint victory on Stage 6, earning the team 100 points.

However, Simon Yates fell short of expectations at the Tour. Following a 4th place GC finish in 2023, hopes were high for another strong performance, but Yates could not replicate his form and finished only 12th. Breakaway attempts brought some excitement, but his 12th-place finish this year only reinforced the team’s broader struggles. Remarkably, Yates’ 12th place Tour GC finish and the 180 points that came with it was Jayco AlUla’s third-highest scoring result of the year, a stat that underscores the team’s overall difficulties. For a team with their reputation, 12th at the Tour should not be one of their best results.

Eddie Dunbar rescued the team’s Grand Tour campaign at the Vuelta a España, as Dunbar delivered two stunning stage victories on Stages 11 and 20, which were the Irishman’s first ever grand tour wins. These wins were the highlight of the team’s Grand Tour season and offered a rare moment of celebration. Outside of the Grand Tours, the team’s biggest result came at the GP Québec, where Michael Matthews triumphed, and this victory brought in 225 points, Jayco AlUla’s largest single points haul of the year.

Jayco AlUla’s transfer activity ahead of 2025 signals a team looking to retool and address its shortcomings, and perhaps to address the fact they may have gone stale. The biggest departure is Simon Yates, who revealed that he took a pay cut to join Team Visma | Lease a Bike, where he will ride in a supportive role for Jonas Vingegaard. His absence leaves a significant gap for Jayco AlUla, but it is a gap they have filled in very impressive fashion.

To fill this void, the team has made notable additions. Ben O’Connor, fresh off a World Championship silver and second at the Vuelta a Espana joins from AG2R Citroen. His arrival provides Jayco AlUla with a genuine contender for stage races and Grand Tours. O’Connor was extremely impressive at the Vuelta, and held off Roglic and wore the red jersey for nearly two weeks, only to be beaten right at the end. But make no mistake about it, O’Connor is a great signing for the team. Jayco AlUla also secured British classics talent Lucas Towers, marking his first step into the WorldTour. Additionally, mountain bike champion Loana Lecomte transitions to road cycling, which is a risky but certainly exciting move.

In addition to rider changes, the team has strengthened its management by appointing Steve Cummings as a Sports Director. Cummings, a former professional cyclist and Olympic medalist, joins Jayco AlUla following his departure from INEOS Grenadiers amid internal controversies. Cummings never saw eye to eye with INEOS’ Tom Pidcock, and one of them had to go, and this could prove to be a great move for Jayco.

For Team Jayco AlUla, 2024 was definitely not what they had hoped for. With 25 wins and 10,625.3 points, the team showed signs of what they’re capable of, particularly in one-day races and the efforts of riders like Michael Matthews and Eddie Dunbar. However, their struggles in Grand Tours and inconsistent performances from key riders like Caleb Ewan and Simon Yates painted a picture of a team in transition.

The departure of Simon Yates is a big change, with Ben O’Connor tasked with elevating the team’s GC ambitions. As they enter their 13th WorldTour season, Jayco AlUla will hope 2025 will be the start of the new era for the team, and will be desperately hoping that Ben O’Connor can replicate his form from the 2024 Vuelta. So, while 2024 was difficult for the team, they should be in a better position now going forward into 2025.