"He is hungry" - Team Jayco AlUla convinced Caleb Ewan can leave Giro d'Italia with a stage win

With the first week done and dusted at the 2024 Giro d'Italia, it's been one without success for Team Jayco AlUla sprinter, Caleb Ewan. The best the Australian has managed was 6th place on stage 5 when the breakaway took the spoils through Benjamin Thomas.

“Last year he was second and third on stages of the Tour de France. That’s only eight, nine months ago. He’s not old. I know he is hungry. He has got good support here," Team Jayco AlUla's Matt White says in conversation with Velo about the level of his sprint star. “I think we will be happy with a stage win. Obviously everyone wants more, but with the depth of the field here I’d be surprised if any sprinter leaves here with a bag of wins.”

So far, Tim Merlier, Jonathan Milan and Olav Kooij have all won bunch sprint at the 2024 Giro d'Italia. Since his return to Team Jayco AlUla over the recent off-season, Ewan has added a single win to his palmares on the opening stage of the Tour of Oman.

“He hasn’t had the smoothest of runs. He got COVID just before the start of the Tour Down Under, which really did hamper him,” White explains, remaining optimistic about Ewan. “He worked really hard in the off-season, he wanted to hit the ground running in Australia and went positive for COVID about five days, six days out from the race and hardly rode his bike up into lead into Down Under.”

“When you look at the sprints here, for me, this is the most competitive sprints field I’ve ever seen. The only people who are not here are Philipsen and Groenewegen, as far as the world’s best sprinters go," White concludes. “That and combination with Olympic year, we’ve got a few track riders who are here who can’t ride the Tour. There’s going to be fireworks every sprint stage, I reckon.”