Ewan takes stage, earning win in three major tours
TOULOUSE, FRANCE >> Australian Caleb Ewan completed his set of grand tour stage victories when the pocket-sized sprinter pipped Dylan Groenewegen to the line to win the 11th stage of the Tour de France, a 167-km flat ride from Albi on Wednesday.
The Lotto Soudal rider surged past Groenewegen in a mass sprint to prevail by a few centimeters, with Italian Elia Viviani taking third place.
Riding the Tour for the first time, Ewan timed his effort perfectly to add to his solitary Vuelta a Espana stage win and his three Giro d’Italia victories.
“I can’t believe it. I’ve been so close in the four last sprint I’ve done. But my team never lost faith in me, and I never lost faith in my team,” Ewan, 25, told reporters.
“I knew if everything was coming together, I could be the fastest on the day. With 10km to go, (our leadout man) Jasper (De Buyst) crashed. I was at the back of the bunch, but Roger (Kluge) came back for me and took me back to Dylan Groenewegen’s wheel in the last kilometer.
“Luckily I had the legs to finish it off. This is a childhood dream come true. There’s no other race that I’ve wanted to win as a kid. The Tour de France is something so distant from Australia, something we watch on TV. It’s fantastic.”
The final sprint was somehow chaotic with a spectator’s phone hitting Niccolo Bonifazio’s helmet with 100 meters to go, ruining the Italian’s chances.
France’s Julian Alaphilippe retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after staying safe in the bunch.
There were no major changes in the overall standings, but Nairo Quintana was involved in a pileup some 30 kilometers from the finish. He made it back to the peloton before the final sprint with a bruised elbow. Dutchman Niki Terpstra could not get back on his bike and abandoned the race while Giulio Ciccone, who also crashed, was unable to rejoin the pack and dropped out of the top 10.
FROOME AWARDED 2011 VUELTA CROWN >> Eight years on, Chris Froome has been crowned winner of the 2011 Vuelta a Espana after Spain’s Juan Jose Cobo was stripped of the title following a doping violation. The now retired Cobo was found to have “abnormalities” in his biological passport between 2009 and 2011, prompting the International Cycling Union (UCI) to hand him a threeyear suspension last month.
The update made Froome Britain’s first Grand Tour winner, stripping that honor from compatriot Bradley Wiggins, who won the 2012 Tour de France.