Caleb Ewan to leave Lotto Dstny for Jayco AlUla return

Five years after he left what was then Mitchelton-Scott for pastures new at Lotto Dstny, Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan is set to make the return switch back to Jayco AlUla for 2024. It will bring to an end a slightly tumultuous final campaign with the ProTeam, during which Ewan has struggled with injury and team squabbles.

Read more:

• Caleb Ewan won't be 'pressured or humiliated' by Lotto Dstny, says rider's agent
• Caleb Ewan 'has the choice' if wants to stay at Lotto-Dstny, says team boss

Despite having one year left on his current Lotto Dstny deal, Ciro Scognamiglio of La Gazzetta dello Sport reported on Tuesday evening that the 29-year-old is likely to leave Lotto Dstny at the end of the season and move back to the team where he turned pro. GCN understands that these reports are true and that Ewan will be a Jayco AlUla rider once more in 2024.

Neither team has made an official comment.

Ewan has been bypassed at the top of the sprinting ranks

The Australian - still under 30 years of age - has seen himself fall from the top tier of sprinters in the past two years, as the likes of Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal Quick-Step), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) have regularly notched up high-profile wins.

In contrast, Ewan's decline has been stark, and next year's Giro d'Italia will mark three years since his last Grand Tour stage victory. Once the fastest man on two wheels during the 2019 and 2020 Tours de France, Ewan's ambitions grew wider in 2021 and perhaps proved to his detriment.

It was in 2021 that he produced one of the most impressive rides of his career to finish second at Milano-Sanremo, but he has since targeted the year's Monument heavily and come up short both times. Six wins came in 2021, followed by seven in 2022, but this year has seen Ewan at his least productive seen arriving on the WorldTour with Jayco AlUla in 2014.

A final season at Lotto Dstny marred by public spats

Having not even come close to a stage win at the 2022 Tour de France, Ewan headed into this year's race more determined than ever and this was evident in his close calls on stages 3 and 4, with a first victory in the race since 2020 looking only a matter of time.

However, Ewan abruptly abandoned the Tour on stage 13 was subsequently publicly derided by Lotto Dstny team boss Stéphane Heulot. Suddenly, for the time since since his move to the Belgian team in 2019, Ewan's future was thrown into question, with Heulot referring to the "choice" that the Australian had to make.

Owing to Lotto Dstny's relegation from the WorldTour at the end of 2022, Ewan retained the option to leave the team should he see fit, prior to his contract expiry in 2024. In fact, it appeared at one point that the team very much wanted to put him in the shop window, no doubt buoyed by the stellar form of up-and-coming sprinter Arnaud De Lie over the past 18 months.

Without the support and confidence of his team, the exit door beckons for Ewan and he will now seek to refind his glory days with former team, Jayco AlUla, within whose setup he will likely compete with Dylan Groenewegen for the best sprinting opportunities.

Such competition may do the Australian the world of good as he settles back into familiar surroundings. At his devastating best, Ewan is a match for any sprinter in the world, and with a Tour de France spot possibly on the line next summer, he will do everything in his power to hit the ground running in the team's white and blue kit next season.