Late break brings Ewan third victory

Caleb Ewan won his third stage of this year’s Tour of Britain yesterday, beating Fernando Gaviria (Quickstep Floors) in what was a fifth bunch sprint in six days of racing.

The Australian, who rides for Orica-scott, launched a bold attack with 300 metres to go in Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast, the day’s seven-man breakaway having been swallowed up with 3km of the stage remaining. And Ewan’s rivals were slow to respond, Gaviria getting boxed in and failing to recover a three-bike-length deficit.

“There was a bit of a sketchy moment in the final corner and I had to go early,” Ewan explained. “I had a little bit of a gap coming out of the corner but everybody was coming back into positions so I took the chance to jump. It was a little bit earlier than I wanted to go but I wanted to get into my aero position and hold as much speed as possible so it is great to hold on and get another stage win here.”

Lars Boom (Lottonl-jumbo) – who had claimed the yellow jersey after winning Thursday’s time trial in Clacton-on-sea – held on to his eight-second advantage over teammate Victor Campanaerts as the general classification remained unchanged.

Team Sky’s Vasil Kiryienka is third overall, nine seconds back, with his team-mate Geraint Thomas predicting that there could be fireworks on today’s penultimate stage, a 115-mile (186km) route from Hemel Hempstead to Cheltenham featuring 2,000m of climbing.

“I think it’s going to be quite an interesting start,” said the Welshman, who remains in touch at 19sec. “Lottonl-jumbo are quite strong but there’s a climb quite close to the finish. I think there’s going to be a lot of attacks and an exciting race.”

The race ends in Thomas’s home town of Cardiff tomorrow.