Australia’s Caleb Ewan is out of the Tour de France, breaking his collarbone after a heavy fall at the conclusion of stage three.
Key points:
- Caleb Ewan crashed heavily in the final stages of the sprint finish along with Peter Sagan
- Geraint Thomas and Primož Roglič also crashed heavily on a treacherous stage
- Australian Jack Haig was forced to abandon in yet another crash
The 26-year-old Sydneysider caught the wheel of stage winner Tim Merlier and crashed into Peter Sagan in the final 200 metres of the 182.9km stage from Lorient to Pontivy.
Ewan’s Lotto Soudal team boss John Lelangue told media after the stage that Ewan had been sent for x-rays, which confirmed a right collarbone fracture.
The pair hit the ground at over 60kph as a select group of around 20 riders contested the final sprint after a crash with around 3.5km to go eliminated a large portion of the field, including sprinters Mark Cavendish and Arnold Démare.
Ewan was well set in third place at the time of the crash, just behind Belgian Alpecin-Fenix riders Merlier and lead-out man Jasper Philipsen, who finished 1-2 on the stage.
Sagan crossed the line long after the peloton came through, shaking his head, as Ewan remained on the ground, surrounded by teammates and medical staff.
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Ewan, who won two stages at the Giro d’Italia and was odds on to add to his five career stage wins at the Tour,
In a stage full of incidents general classification hopes, Aussie Jack Haig, Welshman Geraint Thomas and Slovenian Primož Roglič also crashed heavily on the stage.
Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel survived any major issues and finished in the main group, retaining the race lead and the yellow jersey.
“In a finale like this, we’ve got GC [general classification] guys fighting against sprinters, it’s a dangerous sport,” van der Poel said after the race.
“Danger is everywhere.”
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Racing on the narrow roads of the Brittany region in north-west France, made even more treacherous after early rain, Ineos-Grenadiers leader Thomas was the first of the favourites to fall, just 40km into the stage.
The 35-year-old Welshman — winner of the 2018 Tour — fell heavily on his shoulder and remained seated in clear pain before remounting his bike, jersey in tatters.
His Ineos-Grenadiers team later confirmed that he suffered a dislocation,which was set at the scene by race doctors and would go for scans in the evening.
He was eventually paced back to the main group by fellow Welshman Luke Rowe and his other Ineos-Grenadiers teammates, finishing 26 seconds behind the stage winners.
Robert Gesink, a Jumbo-Visma teammate of Roglič, also fell during the incident, and was forced to abandon.
Roglič, last year’s runner-up, also came down heavily, but far later in the stage, inside the final 10km.
The Slovenian slammed into the ground while riding in the pack, ripping his jersey and visibly damaging his shoulder.
With the sprint teams winding up their lead out trains for the first sprint finish of the race, it was the worst possible time to fall and he wound up losing 55 seconds on his major rivals.
That deficit could have been even larger but for another major crash just 3.5km that forced Queenslander Haig to abandon the race.
Route like playing ‘Russian Roulette’
After the race, a number of riders were critical of race organisers for the route, which Michał Kwiatkowski, Thomas’ Ineo-Grenadiers teammate, described as being a case of “Russian Roulette”.
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“Whoever designed today’s stage @LeTour should try to ride with 180 riders on a twisty 5m wide road next to each other,” German sprinter Andre Greipel said on twitter.
“It wasn’t a nice day out there. We saw too many crashes again and it was really hectic,” last year’s winner Tadej Pogačar said.
“I heard some of my rivals crashed and lost time, but it’s not what we want to see.
Tomorrow’s 150.4km fourth stage is another flat ride through inland Brittany from Redon to Fougères, which should again favour the sprinters
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