Tour de France: Caleb Ewan wins stage 3

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Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) pushed late to win the sprint in Sisteron, using his speed and bike skills to dive through a gap between Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and the barriers and then pass Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) in sight of the finish line.

The sprint was into a strong headwind and Ewan took a risk by staying on the wheels until the final 100 metres. However as others faded, the Australian kept his cool and then made his late surge to victory. 

Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) was the best of the rest behind Ewan and Bennett, with Hugo Hofstetter (Israel Start-Up Nation) fourth and Sagan was fifth. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) finished in the peloton and so kept the leader’s yellow jersey before Tuesday’s first mountain top finish to Orcières-Merlette.

After a quiet stage deep into the Provence countryside, the overall contenders dodged around traffic furniture and fought to stay up front into the headwind of the final kilometres.

Luke Rowe dragged his Ineos Grenadiers team leader Egan Bernal to the front with three kilometres to go after a late crash had spooked some riders and taken Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) out of the sprint.

Team Sunweb seemd in charge of the sprint with a kilometre to go, but the headwind made everyone hurt. Daniel Oss led out Sagan, but like Nizzolo, he hit the front too early and was passed by Bennett and then Ewan. Sagan’s only consolation was taking the lead in the green points competition.

Ewan let out a scream of delight after crossing the line to win his fourth Tour de France stage after his three victories of 2019. His Lotto Soudal team was hit by COVID-19 cases amongst race staff before the start of the Tour and then lost John Degenkolb and Philippe Gilbert after the crashes of stage 1.

“The last two days haven't been great for us, obviously the first day we crashed and lost two guys so we're down to six already. But everyone's staying motivated, we all knew that if all went right then I could win the sprint. Everyone did their job today and made up for the two guys we missed. It worked,” the Australian said.

“The guys did a great job keeping me at the front. In the last kilometre I was a bit too far forward so I dropped back a bit into the wheels. That gave me time to rest the legs just a little before the last hit out. 

“I found my way through the wheels - coming from behind is a bit of a risk - but I found my way along the barrier and I came with a lot of speed and it worked in the end,” Ewan said. 

“The first ones were very special but it's the Tour de France and it's the biggest race in the world and it's the one that every rider wants to win at. I'm so happy to get another win and prove that last year wasn't just a fluke. I hope to come back in more years and keep winning.”

Alaphilippe was disappointed for Bennett, but was happy to enjoy his second day this year, and 15th career day, in the leader’s yellow jersey and confident he can keep it on Tuesday.

“You can't see, but I'm smiling (behind a mask). I'm really happy to wear the yellow jersey, we defended it today and we'll do it again tomorrow,” the GC leader said. 

“It’s a big day [stage 4], there's a big climb up to the finish but I hope we're going to do it. We'll take it day by day and see what happens.”

How it unfolded

The riders signed on under a warm sun at the Nice soccer stadium and seemed eager to race on the 198km stage - the second longest of this year’s Tour de France. 

However with the sprinters expected to dominate and the overall contenders. playing a three-week game, allowed the first attack to go clear as soon as race director Christian Prudhomme dropped his race flag.

Oliver Naesen and Benoit Cosnefroy were there for AG2R La Mondiale to defend the polka-dot jersey, as was their main challenger Anthony Perez (Cofidis), who was equal on 18 points with Cosnefroy. Jérôme Cousin (Total Direct Energie) was happy to go along for the ride.

The peloton let them go and Naesen soon dropped back on team orders as Cosnefroy and Perez prepared to battle for the points on the four categorised climbs.

It was Cosnefroy's third day on the attack at this year's Tour and he seemed tired, with Perez beating him on the Col du Pilon after 55km and again on the Col de la Faye after 63km, to become the virtual leader of the climber’s competition.

The peloton watched from a safe distance, with Deceuninck-QuickStep tractor Tim Declercq doing a lot of the early work, pegging the attack at around 2 minutes. Lotto Soudal also helped out. 

With heavy rain showers dampening everyone’s enthusiasm, the break eased up as Cosnefroy and Perez looked at each other, and so did the peloton. The speed dropped to close to 30km/h reminding everyone the Tour de France is a three-week race and not a one-day Classic.

Only Cousin wanted to race and jumped away alone with around 130km to go. He was perhaps inspired by his Paris-Nice stage win in Sisteron in 2018 and so powered on, opening a four-minute lead.

Cousin pressed on the isolated but stunning roads of Provence, finding satisfaction in his solo ride as he went towards Digne-Les-Bains along valley roads. He was the first over the Col des Lèques after 117km, with Cosnefroy re-emerging from the peloton and getting a lead out from teammate Nans Peters to take second. However Perez kept his virtual KOM lead. 

Sadly that lead and his race ended soon after when he crashed on the descent and then apparently was hit by his own Cofidis team car. Perez was forced to abandon the Tour de France.

Cousin was first through the late intermediate sprint after 160km, but 45 seconds behind him there was a real sprint for the other points. Sagan got an excellent lead out from teammate Daniel Oss, taking 17 points, with Niccolò' Bonifazio, Nizzolo and then Alexander Kristoff behind him, who scored 11 points. The final sprint would obviously shake up the points totals. 

Cousin pushed on alone while behind the sprint teams and the GC teams formed near the front to protect their riders. With 20km to go, the speed finally rose and the race came alive. Cousin was caught with 16km to go.

The headwind slowed everyone and no team was able or willing to control the peloton. The best tactic was clearly to come late and Ewan had the bravery, bike skills and speed to do it better than anyone else.