Caleb Ewan is at the 2025 Tour de France, not sprinting for stage victories like he did so often but watching continuously from the roadside after he surprisingly announced his retirement on May 6.
Ewan is on the Tour for a few days with Australian race broadcaster SBS. Before stage 1 he was quizzing his former rivals about their hopes and fears for the early stages of the Tour.
He told Cyclingnews there were no feeling of regret or desire to still be in the Tour de France peloton.
"I came here wondering if I'd miss it once I'm here and surrounded by everything but not one part of me wishes I was still racing," he said with a little emotion in his voice but a sense of sincerity.
"I'm happy with that feeling. It kind of confirms that the decision to retire was the right one. Now I'll get to enjoy the Tour, watch from the sidelines and enjoy the racing. That's how I fell in love with the sport. So I'll enjoy watching these boys battle it out in the sprints."
Ewan is only 30 but raced at WorldTour level for a decade for Orica-GreenEdge, Lotto, Jayco-AlUla and finally Ineos Grenadiers. He won 65 races, including five stages at the Tour and five at the Giro d'Italia.
However, he broke his contract with Lotto in late 2023 after two acrimonious seasons of tension and disappointment. He then joined Jayco-AlUla for 2024 and won three minor races but Dylan Groenewegen was given the sprinter's spot for the Tour de France.
Jayco-AlUla released him late in 2024 after another difficult year and a reported deal with Astana-XDS for 2025 fell through, putting his future in doubt.
Ewan surprisingly signed with Ineos in January and returned to racing at the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in Italy. He won the first stage and won again on stage 2 Itzulia Basque Country race but then failed to start stage 3. A month later, he announced his retirement.
"I got there. I won again and after I'd done all the work to do it. But sometimes it takes that to realize that it wasn't what I needed. When your time's up, it's up," Ewan explained.
"Perhaps things had to go really well for me to realize that maybe I wasn't enjoying it that much anymore.
"I had a good career. I'm so happy with the way my career went, and I look back with no regrets at all.
"When you can finish and you can say that, it's a huge bonus as an athlete. There's a lot of times when people are forced to retire while still having things they want to achieve and that's a hard way to go out. I was never in that position, I wasn't forced to retire. I could do it on my terms, and I can look back on my career with pride."
Former sprint rivals Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla), Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) and even Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) all stopped to say hello to Ewan at the Tour de France. He had told his family and close friend of his decision to retire but was also a little anxious when he posted a long farewell message on Instagram.
"There was a sense of relief but there was also a sense of dread about how it's going to be taken," he said.
"I had to explain to everyone because it's such a surprise to most people. But I had a lot of nice messages from colleagues and ex-teammates and others. There's always some negative reactions, some criticism, but most people were quite positive, which is really nice.
Ewan is still based in Monte Carlo and seems happy to have left the tension and obligations of racing and training behind him. He often posts on Instagram when out riding, running and spending time with his young family.
"I now do a lot more running than I do riding. I still go out on the bike but I don't push myself too hard," he said.
"I've been exercising a lot in my life, so to just all of a sudden stop would be bad for me. So I'm riding, running, swimming a bit, going to the gym and just keeping active. Everyone feels better when they exercise. I'll keep as fit as possible, while enjoying my retirement and my new life away from cycling."
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