'There’s no better way to start' - Caleb Ewan wins on debut for Ineos Grenadiers

Caleb Ewan won at the first time of asking for Ineos Grenadiers on Tuesday, sprinting to victory on stage one of the Settimana Coppi e Bartali in Bondeno.

Ineos controlled the race for much of the day, with Ewan timing his jump to perfection to take the win after a flawless leadout from his teammates, including Ben Swift. Ewan joined the team after coming to mutual agreement to leave Australian outfit Jayco-AlUla during the off-season.

Oden Kogut (Israel-Premier Tech) and Jason Tesson (TotalEnergies) couldn’t get near the Australian, taking second and third respectively at the finish. Ewan finished well clear of the rest of the field to take the overall race lead moving into the second stage on Wednesday.

Ewan won three races in 2024, including a stage at the Vuelta a Burgos in Spain in August before he joined Ineos from Jayco AlUla earlier this year. His victory on Tuesday is a continuation of Ineos’ fine form in 2025, which recently included a final day stage win at Paris-Nice for Magnus Sheffield.

Speaking at the finish, Ewan expressed his relief at winning after not racing for 200 days before joining his new team.

“Obviously there’s no better way to start,” he said. “I came in knowing that my form was pretty good but when you haven’t raced for so long you really don’t have any gauge of where you’re at. I was a bit nervous this morning, although the boys did an amazing job and it was honestly one of the best leadouts that I’ve ever had. Everyone committed one hundred percent and I’m just happy that I could finish the job.”

Ewan said after joining Ineos that he had been put in a “bad situation” by his former team when speaking on the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast. He even suggested that he had contemplated retirement before leaving Jayco.

“This means a lot,” he added on Tuesday. “The last few months have been quite hard… it’s the longest time that I’ve gone with no racing in my career so I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I’m just happy that the team gave me so much support and did an amazing job.”