Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan won yesterday’s third stage of the Tour Down Under cycle race while compatriot Richie Porte retained the overall lead with three stages remaining.
Ewan outsprinted two-time world champion Peter Sagan to win the 144-kilometer stage from Glenelg to Victor Harbor, claiming his fourth stage win on the tour and the 19th of his professional career.
Both Ewan and Sagan were lucky to avoid a crash in the finishing straight, which brought down Spain’s Gorka Izaguirre and two other riders. Because it happened within 3 kilometers of the finish, Izaguirre did not lose any time and remains in second place on general classification, 20 seconds behind Porte.
Ewan has won the unofficial prelude to the Tour Down Under in each of the past two years, won the first and fifth stages of last year’s event and has now won the first and third stages on the current tour. The 22-year-old from Australia’s ORICA-Scott team has already had five stage wins this year.
“Today was pretty tough backing up after yesterday,” Ewan said. “I went pretty deep and it really took me probably three quarters of the race to really get into it again.”
“It didn’t help that we had to ride back a super-strong break away in the end. Since we got on the laps we were going full gas so it was a tough break.”
Today’s fourth stage takes riders 149.5 kilometers from Norwood to Campbeltown in eastern Adelaide. MDT/AP
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