ProTeam Caleb Ewan needs to settle for place of honour in Milano-Sanremo

Lotto Dstny rider Caleb Ewan needs to settle for 16^th place at the 114^th edition of Milano-Sanremo. After a relatively easy build-up, the classical rush to the Cipressa took place. It was debutant De Lie who led his teammate Ewan onto the first hilly parts of the Cipressa in excellent position. Despite a high pace, a sizeable group including Caleb Ewan, Jasper De Buyst and Maxim Van Gils started the descent towards the Poggio. When Team UAE upped the pace drastically on the ultimate climb, the group was ripped to pieces. It was Van der Poel who decided the race with an attack on the Poggio. The Dutchman soloed to victory, Caleb Ewan had to settle for minor placings in the sprint of a reduced bunch on the Via Roma.

Caleb Ewan: “Of course I’m disappointed with this result. Like every year, Milano-Sanremo is a big goal of mine. I’ve been close twice and I felt really good today. My teammates guided me perfectly towards the Cipressa and also during the run-in towards the Poggio, I could count on Jasper and Maxim. Maybe I started the Poggio a little too far back to really make an impact on the race. With the brutal pace on the climb it was incredibly difficult to move up and just like several other sprinters in the group, I had to hope for it to come back to a sprint. Unfortunately, it didn’t.”

The 21-year-old De Lie won’t forget his first Milano-Sanremo soon. Due to a big effort, De Lie was amongst the first to start the ascent of Cipressa, that way making sure Ewan could enter the penultimate climb of the day in good position.

“This Milano-Sanremo was all about gathering experience and I think I already learned a lot from this first participation. Already on the Capi, I realised that I wasn’t on a great day so I decided to help the team and lead Caleb into a good position on the Cipressa. It was quite a kick to start the Cipressa at the very front. I still tried to follow but had to let go just before the top. This was already a good first introduction with Milano-Sanremo and I’m hungry for more”, concludes Arnaud De Lie.