CALEB EWAN

LOTTO SOUDAL

He’s so small and compact and his aerodynamics are unbelievable. Even so, he’s been practicing being not as low - he’s trying to find the sweet spot of being aero, coupled with the highest possible power output he can get. He’s found that by just coming up that little tiny bit, he can put out more power and although he’s less aero, it was making him a little bit faster.

He’s got a really good engine in the sprint as well. It’s not often you’ll see him have to sit down, or labour to the line. He’s got a good range. And then also on the psychological side, he believes he is the quickest and he has a lot of fight in him.

Caleb does the whole mildmannered thing: ‘I want to congratulate my competitors and they’re all really good…’ But he lets slip that he’s got them covered. I think he’s aware of not getting people offside.

It took Caleb a little time to mature as an athlete. A part of it was also a confidence thing, of getting to ride in the biggest races. Mitchelton announced that he would ride the Tour in January two seasons ago, then they changed their mind right before the Tour because they heard in May he was going to Lotto. I think that affected his confidence. Until you’re winning in the Tour, you’re not considered to be at the top. The Vuelta stage he won [in 2015] was tough - he beat Degenkolb and Sagan, so it was an awesome debut. But it was about the only day he finished with the bunch in that Vuelta.

He won a lot when he was young, but it happens when you’re a young athlete - you have a great year and everybody starts to p*ss in your pocket and you’re the next big thing. But you’re not consistently there yet. You’ve got to build up physically a bit more and get that confidence that you really belong.

Based on last year’s Tour de France, Caleb is the best. He started a little slow. He was second, third, right there, but not quite getting the run through. But once he got going he was unstoppable. He had so much speed - he had Groenewegen covered on that front, and it started close but as the Tour went on the gap widened.