Ewan edges sprint finish
CALEB EWAN’S first career Tour de France stage win came by the narrowest of margins as the Australian edged out Dylan Groenewegen by the width of a wheel rim in Toulouse yesterday.
The 25-year-old Australian, riding the Tour for the first time, came around Groenewegen after the Dutchman launched his sprint with 200 metres of the 167km stage 11 from Albi remaining and took it by inches.
Ewan, who has stage wins in the Giro d’Italia and La Vuelta to his name, had made no secret of the fact a Tour victory was what he craved the most.
‘I can’t believe it,’ he said. ‘I’ve been close in the last four sprints and my team never lost faith in me and I never
lost together the ‘I knew day faith and I in if could my everything today sprinting. be fastest I showed came on that... ‘Since childhood, there is no other race I’ve dreamt of winning. Watching in Australia, the Tour seems so far away — I can’t believe I’m even here but to win a stage is a dream come true.’ Yellow jersey holder Julian Alaphilippe and defending champion Geraint Thomas finished safely in the pack to ensure there was no change at the top of the general classification, in which Alaphilippe leads Thomas by 72 seconds as the race heads to the Pyrenees today.
Thomas’ Ineos team-mate Egan Bernal finished 13th on the stage to stay a further four seconds behind Thomas in third place. Ireland’s Dan Martin is in ninth place overall, two minutes and nine seconds behind the leader, with Nicolas Roche in 32nd.
After Tuesday’s rest day and Monday’s chaotic finish in crosswinds, yesterday’s stage was a more sedate affair.
There was a little late drama as a crash held up Movistar’s Nairo Quintana and TrekSegafredo’s Richie Porte, who needed five kilometres to be paced back onto the pack. However, Porte’s team-mate Giulio Ciccone — who wore the yellow jersey for two days — was not so lucky as he limped home with injuries that saw him lose his 10th place in the general classification.
Before that, Mike Teunissen, winner of the opening stage, led out his JumboVisma team-mate Groenewegen but after he pulled off, Ewan had the power to come around the Dutchman in the nick of time.