Caleb Ewan - A career summarised in 10 victories
Looking back at the Australian's decade-long racing career through some of his most notable victories
After just over 10 years of racing at the professional level, Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan called a sudden end to his career on Tuesday morning.
The 30-year-old turned pro with Orica-GreenEdge back in 2015, spending four years with the Australian team before racing for five years at Lotto. He would spend 2024 back at Jayco before switching to Ineos Grenadiers for the final months of his career this season.
Over the years, Ewan has racked up 65 professional victories, including 33 at the WorldTour level with 11 Grand Tour stages.
From his first victory, all the way back at the Herald Sun Tour in his first months as a pro, to his last, just a month ago in the Basque Country, we've taken a look back at Ewan's career via 10 of his most notable wins.
2015 Herald Sun Tour, stage 2
Ewan's first professional victory came in the opening weeks of his career after signing a pro deal with Orica-GreenEdge. In January 2015, he was runner-up at the Australian National Championships in Buninyong behind Heinrich Haussler.
The next month, he went one better at the Herald Sun Tour, beating Steele von Hoff and Sam Witmitz to the line on a crash-hit finish to stage 2 in Ngambie. He'd go on to win the next day, too, beating Tyler Farrar to the line.
2015 Vuelta a España, stage 5
The 11th win of Ewan's neo-pro season was also the biggest to date, his first at WorldTour level, and his first at a Grand Tour.
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Ewan made his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a España and quickly converted a start into a win, speeding to victory on stage 5 in Alcalá de Guadaíra. Following a perfect lead-out from his teammates, Ewan beat out John Degenkolb and soon-to-be world champion Peter Sagan for the win.
"This is by far the happiest day in my career. To beat some of the best sprinters in the world, especially guys like Sagan and Degenkolb on an uphill finish, it really means a lot to me," Ewan said. "It's an honour to race with those guys, and to beat them is just unreal for me."
2016 Cyclassics Hamburg
Ewan took eight one-day race victories during his career, one of the biggest of which came at the WorldTour Cyclassics Hamburg in his second pro season.
It was a tumultuous race for the Australian, who suffered a puncture and crashed twice during a rainy day in the saddle. In the final sprint to the finish, he was upended by rival Nacer Bouhanni, who was adjudged to have deviated from his line. As a result, he took the win, beating John Degenkolb and Giacomo Nizzolo to top spot.
"It was an eventful day all round after suffering a puncture and then crashing twice, although fortunately I landed on my feet both times. The whole team did a fantastic job in getting me back into the bunch after the crashes, and they really were superb today," Ewan said later.
2017 Tour Down Under, stage 6
Ewan started off his 2017 season in flying form at the Tour Down Under, winning every sprint stage of the six-day race, as Richie Porte took out the two hilly stage victories and the overall title.
He had held off Danny van Poppel to win on the opening day and then got the better of Peter Sagan on stages 3 and 4. Once again, the closing stage in Adelaide saw him to head-to-head with the Slovakian and come out on top, thanks in no small part to a strong Orica-GreenEdge leadout.
"It's not usual that you get lucky enough to win all the sprints in one race and I was just waiting for something bad to happen. Not something bad to happen but just getting boxed in or something because there is a whole lot of luck that goes along with winning a race," Ewan said.
"Something could happen but I just think there was a whole lot of joy when I crossed the line first again.”
2019 UAE Tour, stage 4
2019 marked a season of change for Ewan, who made the switch from Mitchelton-Scott to Lotto Soudal. The best season of his career lay ahead of him, with 10 wins including five Grand Tour stages, and it all started at the UAE Tour.
His first win of 31 for Lotto would come on the short, steep ramp up to Hatta Dam on stage 4. He beat Matteo Moschetti and Primož Roglič to the top, timing his kick to perfection to take the win – a feat he'd repeat in the same place in 2020.
"I watched the video of previous years a few times. In the videos, you don't really see how steep it is," Ewan said later. "When I started sprinting, I could really feel it - had to click down a few gears to keep on top of it, but I felt good and could really keep the power until the end."
2019 Tour de France, stage 21
Following a Giro d'Italia which saw him take home two stage victories, Ewan made his Tour de France debut in 2019, and the wins kept coming. On stage 11, he beat Dylan Groenewegen to the line in Toulouse before doing the same to Elia Viviani on stage 16 in Nîmes.
The biggest triumph would come on the final stage on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, however. He once again went head-to-head with Groenewegen, hitting the front after Edvald Boasson Hagen and Niccolo Bonifazio had launched the sprint.
"I can't believe I just won on the Champs-Elysées," Ewan said. "When we rolled onto the Champs-Elysées, I almost had tears in my eyes, it was such a surreal feeling. I can't believe I just won the stage.
"The sprint was quite messy, and we were quite far back, but I was patient and waited. I didn't know how many guys were in front of me and so I waited and then ran at the three guys across the road. I went down the right; most sprinters I've talked to, said don't go down the right because it's bumpy. But luckily, I had the speed to come through in the end."
2020 Tour de France, stage 11
More Tour success came the following year as Ewan swept to victory in two stages of the COVID-delayed 2020 race. After beating Sam Bennett in Sisteron, he came out on top of this four-man dash to the line in Poitiers, beating Bennett, Wout van Aert and a later-relegated Peter Sagan.
Ewan had finished second to Bennett the day earlier but was at his space-finding best on the run to the line here. He picked his way through the gaps, onto Bennett's wheel, and then into the wind at the right moment to come through and win it on the bike throw.
"I knew from the first stage that I won that I had to stay calm and wait for the right time and right gap to open, and it did in the end. I had a real desire to win today after yesterday. I was quite disappointed with that sprint. I’m happy to repay my teammates with the win. I didn’t really know I’d won, I saluted just in case," Ewan said later.
2020 Scheldeprijs
The biggest one-day victory of Ewan's career came at the end of the 2020 season when he took out the sprinter's Classic, Scheldeprijs. It was, as it often is, a crash-hit race, but Ewan navigated the finale to speed through to victory in Schoten.
He'd beat Niccolo Bonifazio and Bryan Coquard to the line at the end of the shortened 173km race, having surfed the UAE Team Emirates train. He hit the front and easily beat Pascal Ackermann to the line, though the German was later relegated for causing a crash late on.
"It's one of the biggest sprint Classics there is and I haven't won a Classic of this level in Belgium before, so this is super nice," Ewan said later. "It's important for me, to be honest, I think it's more important for the team. We haven't had a win in a Classics at this level for a long time, so they are going to be really happy. It's my first time here and now my first win, so I'm super happy to have this on my palmares now."
2022 Tirreno-Adriatico, stage 3
Look back through his palmarès and you'll have to head back three years to find Ewan's previous WorldTour victory, the most recent before Itzulia 2025 coming at Tirreno-Adriatico in 2022.
The win was the 55th of his career, coming at the expense of Arnaud Démare and Olav Kooij in Terni on an uphill drag to the finish line. He surfed wheels in the final in typical Ewan style, coming around Démare and Pascal Ackermann to take his third win of the season.
Participations at the Giro and Tour would follow later in the year, but Ewan had already won the last of his Grand Tour stages at the 2021 Giro. There'd be 10 more wins to follow to round out his career, but by this point, Ewan's peak had already passed.
2025 Itzulia Basque Country, stage 2
Ewan signed with Ineos Grenadiers in January following a challenging reunion season at Jayco-AlUla in 2024. He quickly got back to winning ways at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali and won again on his second start of the year at Itzulia Basque Country.
His win on stage 2 in Lodosa saw him easily outpace Luca van Boven (Intermarché-Wanty) and Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) before he withdrew from the hilly stage race overnight.
It would spell a winning end to Ewan's career, with the Australian not racing again afterwards before he announced his retirement a month later.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, she had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur. She writes and edits at Cyclingnews as well as running newsletter, social media, and how to watch campaigns.
Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. She has interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel, and her favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.
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