Caleb Ewan grows more and more ambitious: "In an ideal world, if all goes well, I can go to the Tour de France"

Caleb Ewan was a risky signing for INEOS Grenadiers, but two weeks into his season seemingly a very profitable one. Although with modest competition, the 'Pocket Rocket' has already won two bunch sprints and is growing ever confident. The Tour de France is his ultimate goal, but he will have to prove to the British team that he will be the right choice.

“In an ideal world, if all goes well, I can go to the Tour de France. That’s my goal. I don’t know exactly what their plan is, and I guess it depends on how everyone’s going in the team, what kind of direction they want to go for when it comes to that," Ewan shared with CyclingWeekly. 

The Australian started his season and won a stage at the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, and now at Itzulia Basque Country Ewan won stage 2. He abandoned the race before the start of stage 3, returning home as the rest of the race is suited only to the climbers and puncheurs. He is set to return to racing at the Tour de Romandie, where he should have an important test against some stronger sprinters.

“In an ideal world for [the team] as well, I will also get to a really good level that they think I can compete for wins at the Tour. I think there are maybe seven or eight opportunities in the Tour for a sprinter. That’s seven or eight opportunities, if I can be going good, that the team has extra," he argued. "I think they’re really on board with that as well, and I think they’ll definitely try to help me try to get to that point.”

To the Tour, the British team should have Carlos Rodríguez, Thymen Arensman, Geraint Thomas, Michal Kwiatkowski and Filippo Ganna lining up, making five riders. The Giro d'Italia (and of course the Vuelta a España) could be good alternatives however, as for the Giro the team has got Egan Bernal, Joshua Tarling and Thymen Arensman on the provisional startlist but that ultimately means that until now there wasn't much thought behind having a sprinter in the race, and that could be opened up.