EWAN SEALS SECOND WIN IN SPRINT FINISH
CYCLING:
The Tour de France is now twice as nice for Caleb Ewan after the Aussie jumped his rivals to snare a second stage win.
With Stage 16 starting and finishing in the city of Nimes, Ewan snuck out hours before the race and rode the last 4km of the course.
With the fast men so evenly matched on this year’s Tour, Ewan’s homework proved a masterstroke and it laid the platform for him to become the first sprinter to win multiple road stages in this year’s race.
The Australian debutant came from behind to beat Italian Elia Viviani and Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen on a sweltering day where the mercury reached 40°C.
“When I looked at the finish this morning I knew they’d be two scenarios; I was either going to be too far back or in a good position and I was too far back,” Ewan said.
“I already played in my mind what I would do in that situation. I thought, ‘I’m going to back off through the roundabout and start my sprint early, run at the wheels and come past with speed. “In the end my plan worked.” But it could have been very different, with the Lotto-Soudal team rider admitting he nearly pulled the pin on trying for the win. “Today I felt really bad, actually,” Ewan said. “I was getting dropped on the Cat 4 climb and I was thinking ‘This is really a bad day for me, my legs don’t feel good at all’.
“I was so close to pulling my teammate off the front because I thought there’s no point pulling anymore because my legs are dead.
“But I’ve been in this position before where my legs come good by the end so I resisted doing that.
“Every sprinter, when they get a sniff of victory they have that extra adrenaline rush and you don’t feel it in the legs and I had that today.”
But on a day of tension, there were victims. Defending champion Geraint Thomas crashed with 131km still remaining and took skin off his elbow.
While Thomas was able to rejoin the peloton, Jakob Fuglsang wasn’t as fortunate.
The Dane, ninth overall, hit the road hard with 28km to go and was forced to abandon the race.
Fuglsang’s withdrawal means Australian Richie Porte moved up to 10th on general classification ahead of the 200km Stage 17 journey to Gap and the three consecutive days in the Alps that will decide the Tour.
– Sam Edmund CRICKET:
Jackson Bird hopes a masterclass from former Australian quick Ryan Harris will help him claim arguably the most hotly contested spot in the side for the Ashes series.
Bird (pictured) snared 3-28 as Australia’s batsman bumbled and battled in the intrasquad clash in Southampton, where 17 wickets fell on day one of the fourday encounter.
The 32-year-old kept things tight throughout his 11 overs and was rewarded with the scalps of Travis Head, Kurtis Patterson and Alex Carey.
Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson are all guaranteed to be picked in Australia’s squad for the five-Test series against England, which starts next week in Birmingham.
Bird, Michael Neser, Peter Siddle and Chris Tremain are locked in an intriguing duel for the right to be the reserve paceman.
Neser (4-18) and Siddle (320) also proved potent, underlining how fierce the battle for that final spot in the side is.
Siddle has been playing county cricket for Essex in recent weeks, while Bird and Neser have been working closely with Harris, Australia’s leading wicket-taker in the 2013 Ashes.
Bird, who opened the bowling with Harris during the fourth Test of Australia’s tour of England in 2013, feels he is reaping the benefits of the former paceman’s mentorship.
“I had a really good couple of weeks with Ryan Harris, bowling coach for the Australia A tour, and worked on a few things that have let me down in the past over here,” Bird said.
“The ball has been coming out nicely.
“I can’t really control what else happens (in terms of Ashes selection). I feel like I bowled reasonably well today, which is good.
“Peter Siddle was outstanding and so was Pat Cummins. Competition for spots is going to be really tough and you expect that in the Australian team.”
– Rob Forsaith