Tour of Britain: Ewan wins opener in Kelso

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Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) won stage 1 of the Tour of Britain, edging out Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) in a photo finish after a masterful leadout from Luka Mezgec. Elia Viviani (Sky) finished third, barely half a wheel's length further back.

A flat run-in saw the sprinters' teams battle it out, but despite Sky and Katusha-Alpecin being more visible it was Orica-Scott who got the timing right. The Australian outfit took control in the finale, with Mezgec and Ewan hitting the front just before a technical final kilometre, which included sharp turns, a narrow bridge and a cobbled finishing straight.

Boasson Hagen initially had the jump on Ewan, but the time spent in Mezgec's wheel benefitted the Australian, leaving him enough power to eke out the win.

"When I crossed the line, I was pretty confident that I had got it," Ewan said in the post-race press conference. "It was pretty close but then after the line I saw all the cameras around Eddy and then I started doubting. When it's that close you never really know."

"It was a pretty tricky final because of the tight corner with about 500 metres to go, and then obviously with the cobblestones in the finish, so we definitely wanted to be on the front into the corner, and then have Luka take me to the 200 metre mark.

"I can't complain about the leadout; I just had to sit there and get taken through the really tricky parts."

Taking bonus seconds into account, Ewan now leads the race with a three-second advantage over Boasson Hagen, with breakaway rider and sprint classification leader Karol Domagalski (One Pro Cycling) sitting in third overall a further second back.

How it unfolded

The 14th edition of the modern Tour of Britain opened with a 190km stage from Edinburgh, Scotland's capital, to the border town of Kelso. With three intermediate sprints and three classified climbs on the route, it was no surprise that the 8 riders of the breakaway were keen to get going early.

Within 20 kilometres of the start, the day's break was established, featuring Karol Domagalski (One Pro Cycling), Jacob Scott (AnPost-ChainReaction), Robert Partridge (Bike Channel-Canyon), Connor Swift (Madison-Genesis), Graham Briggs (JLT-Condor), Mark McNally (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Łukasz Owsian (CCC Sprandi-Polkowice), and Gorka Izagirre (Movistar).

Almost immediately their advantage ballooned to three minutes, before stabilising at two minutes as the peloton got organised.

Swift won the first climb of the day, also the highest point of the race, but there was more drama on the descent as Domagalski was knocked down by the Madison-Genesis team car. A cut elbow aside, the Pole didn't seem to sustain any major damage, and rejoined the group within ten kilometres.

Meanwhile, back in the peloton Orica-Scott, Sky and Quick Step led the way, with their sprinters Caleb Ewan, Elia Viviani and Fernando Gaviria in mind for the probable sprint finish in Kelso.

After passing through the finish for the first time, the exposed roads of the 79km finishing loop delivered the anticipated crosswinds. Katusha and BMC drove the peloton, briefly splitting the peloton and mopping up six riders from the break of the day.

The last men standing were the two Poles, Domagalski and Owsian, and both were rewarded for their perseverance. Domagalski's red sprints jersey will be a nice pick-me-up after his earlier crash, while Owsian leads the mountains classification.

On the lower slopes of the day's final climb, the two were finally caught by the Quick Step Floors-led peloton. Mark Cavendish was a notable casualty of the fast pace, while up front Fernando Gaviria was chasing down attacks.

With a flat run-in to the finish, a bunch sprint was inevitable as first Katusha and Sky, then Orica-Scott shared the pacemaking at the front of the peloton. Not every team could stay there in the technical final kilometre, however, and it was Orica-Scott who reaped the rewards for doing so.

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