Caleb Ewan and his Lotto-Dstny team have insisted that the loss of directeur sportif Allan Davis won't have an impact on his or his team's performance at this year's Tour de France.
The former racer won't be part of the Belgian team this July following allegations that he sent unwanted direct messages to a woman on social media.
As an Australian and former sprinter himself, Davis would have been a key voice in the team car as Ewan takes aim at adding to his five Tour de France stage wins. However, he and his team insist it's business as usual at the race in Davis' absence.
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"I think we just have to get on with it," Ewan said in a pre-race press conference on Friday. "We have a really good team here with the DSes and the riders and we just have to keep going with the job. We know what we need to do so yeah."
Team sports manager Kurt Van de Wouwer took the same stance, noting that the Lotto riders and staff are professionals who can get the job done themselves.
"I think we are all professionals," Van der Wouwer said. "Caleb is also a professional. We will manage without Allan. I don't think that it will be an influence on the result. We are all professionals, the staff and the riders."
As for the aim of the race, it's a fairly simple one for Ewan after two summers of disappointment in France – "To win some stages" was his simple reply after he was asked what he was hoping to achieve over the course of the next three weeks.
Ewan hasn't enjoyed his best season to date, racking up a sole win at the Van Merksteijn Fences Classic back in late May. Following that result, he proclaimed it was "probably the worst start [to a season] of my career" before going on to take second places at his next two races, the Ronde van Limburg and Elfstedenronde Brugge. That suggests he's in good form and has reason to be confident.
"I think I know what it takes to win at the Tour," Ewan said when asked why he felt so confident ahead of the Grand Départ. "It's completely different to any other race. I just feel good. My preparation was better than last year. The first part of season didn't go so good, but it doesn't mean you can't turn it around in middle of the season.
"I feel like I've hit my best form and like I said I feel really good. It's been a couple of years since I won, so hopefully I can get back on track here."
After a 2022 Tour which saw him finish the race with just two top-10 placings to his name, Ewan has rejigged his run-up to the race this time around. He feels as though it's already paying off in terms of feeling, now there just remains the real-world test out on the roads of Spain and France.
"I definitely don't want to be in Paris as disappointed as I was last year so that's extra motivation," he said. "I think my prep last year wasn't great, so I think I know where I went wrong. I've gone back to what I did when I had more success Tours and that made a big difference.
"Last year it was a combination of bad form and not many sprints. I think this year I have better form and there are more sprint chances, so I hope it's going to be a better one.
"Usually, I do maybe half of the Giro d'Italia and not as many of the Classics so that changed a bit. There are five or six weeks between the Giro and the Tour so it's so hard to peak for Giro and bring the form back up for the Tour. This time it was a long steady build-up, a bit different to what I'm used to. But I think I hit the form at the right time."
Ewan's Tour stage wins have come at the 2019 (three, plus four podiums) and 2020 (two, plus one podium) Tours. However, he hasn't yet mounted a serious challenge for that big sprint prize, the green jersey.
Back in 2019, he finished on 248 points, down on Peter Sagan's winning total of 316. This time around, it's not high on his mind – much like Wout van Aert – though he's likely to take on early intermediate sprints – even if only to ensure he's not entirely out of the race before it even begins.
"I think we'll see pretty quickly whether [Van Aert] will go for it or not because he'll go for early intermediates if he is going for it," Ewan said. "I'll keep it in the back of my mind and maybe go for some intermediates – you don't want to win a few stages and then not be up there in the classification because you didn't go for them.
"I'll keep it in mind, but the main objective is to get back on track and win a few stages."
