Tour de France: Second win for Ewan on stage 16 in Nimes

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Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) came from behind to take his second stage victory of the 2019 Tour de France, beating Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) in a high-speed sprint in Nîmes.

Deceuninck-QuickStep took control of the sprint in the final 500 metres just before a late roundabout, giving Viviani a clean run to the line. Ewan was further back but not concerned and clearly confident of his sprinting ability. He opted to start his sprint early, anticipating Groenewegen and Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) to come up alongside Viviani. The Italian had the best line along the barriers, but Ewan had more speed in his aero tuck and came down the middle of the road to win by half a bike length.

Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) enjoyed a relatively quiet but hot day in the French canicule, where temperatures went up to 38°C. He finished safely in the peloton in 20th place and retained his race leader's yellow jersey. Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) were not so lucky. The Welshman crashed mid-stage, suffering a bloody knee after his gears jammed, while the Dane went down later on and was forced to abandon the Tour de France.

"The final kilometres I was scared to crash," Alaphilippe admitted. "There was a lot of crashes, and I never want to crash, but especially when you are the leader of the race. I tried to take care in all the corners. In the end, we didn't win with Elia but it was a good day.

"Today was a really warm day on the bike but it's the same for everybody and you have to deal with it. For me, I put ice on my neck all day and I tried to drink a lot and not forget to eat."

Ewan admitted he had suffered during the stage but had some personal motivation to win. His win means he is the only sprinter to so far have won two stages in this year's Tour de France. The final sprint opportunity is expected to be on the Champs Elysees in Paris on Sunday.

"To be honest, I felt so bad today during the day. I think the heat really got to me. But I have extra motivation today because my wife and daughter are here. I'm so happy I could win for them. I said before it's a dream to be here, and it was such a big dream to win one stage. Now I've won two, I can't believe it," Ewan said proudly, going to explain the sprint.

"I had Jasper [De Buyst] on the front with Dylan [Groenewegen] on the wheel with one kilometre to go. QuickStep came past and I lost a few more positions than I wanted to. But I looked at this finish at the start of the day and played all the scenarios in my head. One of the scenarios was if I was too far back. I think if you watch, I lay off the wheel and really take a run at it and start sprinting before the rest of the guys. It worked.

How it happened

The riders lined up in the shade of centre of Nîmes, keen to stay cool in the high temperatures and scorching sun of the French summer heatwave.

Teams had prepared extra feeds, loaded extra bidons in team cars and lots of ice packs in preparation for the 177km loop north of Nîmes, and they used all of them during the stage. The largely flat profile meant it would surely be a day for sprinters, but everyone suffered in the heat.

The Tour's last visit to Nîmes was in 2014, when Kristoff took the spoils in a sprint. The enduring image of that day was of a distraught Jack Bauer slumped against a barrier after the finish. The New Zealander was on the offensive for 222km but was caught and passed by the sprinters in the finishing straight.

Despite the heat, there were more adventurers this time, and Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale) and Stephane Rossetto (Cofidis) jumped away as soon as race director Christian Prudhomme dropped the flag and stage officially began. They were soon joined by Lukasz Wiśniowski (CCC Team), Paul Ourselin (Total Direct Energie) and Lars Bak (Dimension Data) to create the break of the day.

Their lead edged up to 1:35 as the thermometer hit 39°C. That slowed the pace of the break, and the peloton, with UAE Team Emirates, Lotto-Soudal and Jumbo-Visma riding tempo and leading the chase as their teammates constantly dropped back for bidons and ice. It was interesting that yellow jersey Alaphilippe and his Deceuninck-QuickStep team were not stationed at the very front, leaving the chase up to the other sprint teams, with Viviani suggesting they have done enough during this year's Tour to enjoy a day off.

In the shadow of the mighty Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct, the tempo stayed steady, but riders had little time to enjoy the views down the gorge.

The quiet of the French afternoon was broken with 131km to race when Thomas crashed in the peloton during a right-hand bend. The Welshman was the only rider to come down and later explained his gears jammed. He quickly got a bike change and began to chase before returning to the team car for treatment on a bloody left knee. This was Thomas' third crash of the Tour, following his fall on the opening stage in Brussels and another incident on the road to Saint-Etienne on stage 8.

The intermediate sprint came after 65km with Viviani winning the dash for sixth place behind the five breakaways and ahead of Michael Morkov, Sonny Colbrelli and an only half-bothered Sagan. The Bora-Hansgrohe leader seemed content to keep his points tally ticking over without expending unnecessary energy in the heat.

With 100 kilometres remaining, the five escapees led the peloton by 1:25, and the status quo remained as the riders passed through the feed zone, the stunning city of Arles and began to turn south into a slight headwind. The speed in the peloton rose gradually, as did the fear of stronger crosswinds, echelons, and attacks in the peloton. The lead of the break fell to below a minute as Tony Martin did long turns on the front for Jumbo-Visma.

The roads were exposed with 33km to go, and the pace lifted to 50kph, but there was not quite enough wind to spark echelons or splits in the peloton. However, the tension was palpable.

Fuglsang was the first victim of the nervousness when he crashed with several other riders in the shadows of the trees with 26km to go. He got up but was clearly in pain, with his left wrist his biggest worry. His teammates tried to encourage him to carry on but a race doctor did not agree and accompanied him to an ambulance. Fuglsang had fought back from a nasty stage 1 crash and was ninth overall but his Tour de France was suddenly over.

The break of the day refused to give in on the stunning country roads and gorges, the five working together in the hope the peloton would let the elastic snap in the heat. However, the gap came in the back of the peloton on the late climbs, with even Enric Mas (Deceuninck-QuickStep) dropped.

Roman Kreuziger (Dimension Data) suffered a late mechanical and took a bike from a teammate but would lose a minute, with Nairo Quintana (Movistar) also finishing in the same time. However, the abandon of Fuglsang meant he moved up to 12th overall.

The peloton finally caught the break with just 2.5km to go and it was sprint time. No one sprinter has dominated this year, and everyone fancied their chances, but the headwind finish made it difficult. Ewan got it right to take his second victory.

After Monday's rest day and Tuesday's flat stage, the Tour de France heads east to Gap on Wednesday and into the Alps for the decisive mountain stages. Stage 17 is exactly 200km long, with the late Col de la Sentinelle (5.2km at 5.4 per cent) the only real climb of the day. The high mountains come on Thursday with stage 18 over the Col de Vars, the Col d'Izoard and the Col du Galibier.

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