21/07/2022

Caleb Ewan confirms confidence in Lotto Soudal for coming years: "Things are going pretty well in the team"

Lotto Soudal's CEO John Lelangue has stated that he wanted to keep Caleb Ewan on board despite the difficult 2022 season, and now the Australian sprinter has also confirmed that the collaboration is smooth and will stay functional into 2023.

“Yes, unless they don’t want me. We’ve already spoken a lot about next year. I definitely intend to stay here," Ewan told VeloNews at the Tour de France. As for rumours of leaving the Belgian team, he answered: "I’ve not really thought about it and doing a transfer in December is not the best thing".

"We’ll turn the page and we’ll keep committing" - Lotto Soudal confident of keeping Caleb Ewan on board

With Lotto Soudal at risk of relegating out of the World Tour, and Lotto Soudal being noticeably vulnerable in the sprints with the Australian, it has sparked some debate on whether the 28-year was to stay with Lotto. But he shrugs off any idea, strengthening the bond with the team he's currently having a contract with until 2024.

“...If I was going to do it I’d be already thinking about it now. At the moment things are going pretty well in the team. Obviously my results at the Giro and here haven’t been great but sometimes a season is like this. I’m confident that we can turn it around," he added. The current Tour de France has seen him fail to contest a single top result in the sprints, however the 'Pocket Rocket' has two opportunities left to succeed.

Preview - Tour de France 2022 stage 18

“I have another two years with the team after this year... Even if we go down I don’t think that much will change because all the sponsors are committed to stay, and if we’re within the first two teams of the second tier, then we get all the starts that we want anyway," Ewan explains, pointing out how relegation would not make a meaningful difference in Lotto Soudal's case.

He was asked about the leadout aswell, a crucial part of any successful sprinter, something which Ewan has not had an easy time with this year, inclusively having none of his traditional support men present at the Tour. “I think that we’ll be looking for some more riders for the leadouts, as we do every year because we’re always looking to strengthen it," he said, confirming there is discussion ongoing about future collaboration.