"My job is to win and once I stop winning and can't win anymore, then my place in cycling is pretty much over" - Caleb Ewan not ready to call it quits just yet

Returning to Team Jayco AlUla in 2024, Caleb Ewan is hopeful the familiar surroundings can reignite his top form. Early signs are positive too after victory in the Australian National Criterium Championships.

“I was never going to be retired in 2024,” Ewan told Cycling News after a disappointing 2023 campaign. “I'm not the type of rider that can kind of keep riding, not winning anything. My job is to win and once I stop winning and can't win anymore, then my place in cycling is pretty much over.”

The acrimonious departure of Ewan from Lotto Dstny was one of the biggest controversies of last season. “I never really got the ball rolling and then it was just kind of all downhill from there,” recalls the Australian of 2023. “I was super motivated all the way until probably the Tour de France and even going to the Tour I was very hopeful with what I could do, considering the start of my season. But I think the team obviously probably weren't as hopeful as I was and I felt that in the support that they were giving me there.”

“I thought if I had to do another year with Lotto, then I was just going to kind of battle through the year – and it just wouldn't have worked – but I would have done another year and seen how it went,” continues the star sprinter.

Looking ahead to 2024, Ewan is optimistic. "If I can look back on the season and say that I was one of the best sprinters in the world, then I'd be happy,” he previews. That's going to come with lots of big, big wins – wins in the Giro, Vuelta, here in Australia, lots of WorldTour wins."

“I want to get back to that level that I was probably, a few years ago, where if you ask someone ‘who is the best sprinter in the world?’ that – I don't need to be the top – but I was in the conversation as one of the best."