Caleb Ewan prioritizes altitude training over racing towards Tour de France

Caleb Ewan is one of Lotto Soudal's weapons for the Tour de France in search of much needed UCI points. Although the team specifies that Ewan will not be focused on that, opting out of the Belgium Tour, the team is nevertheless in need of them.

Team DS Allan Davis told Het Nieuwsblad that "we want the best Caleb in the Tour in the future and then an altitude stage is the best preparation. This decision was made in consultation with the rider and his coach.” Hence, Ewan will not only not ride the two World Tour preparation races - Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de Suisse - but also not ride the Belgium Tour in which he was scheduled. Instead, he will have an altitude camp, with the location not given.

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“Caleb wants to be top in the Tour. He's not 23 anymore, knows exactly what he needs today. He is getting stronger in climbing. That altitude internship will help him with that again soon," Davis said. Despite his occasional strong performances on hilly stages, Ewan has been very inconsistent and suffered quite a lot at the Giro d'Italia.

Besides having failed to win a stage, the Australian was dropped several times on the hilly terrain before eventually abandoning before stage 12 - which ended in a bunch sprint. His fall on the first day may have impacted his performance, but either ways Ewan is certain that climbing will be crucial to get over and be able to perform at the Tour de France, and will hence put some focus on his form and climbing capacity.

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