Rising Australian star Caleb Ewan claimed his third stage victory of this year’s Tour Down Under when he won yesterday’s 149.5km stage from Norwood to Campbelltown, while compatriot Richie Porte remains the overall leader.
Ewan, 22, who also won the first and third stages and now has five stage wins over two years on his home tour, appeared to be boxed in the finishing straight, but still managed to get into the clear.
He crossed the line ahead of two-time world champion Peter Sagan of Slovakia, Danny Van Poppel of the Netherlands and Britain’s Ben Swift.
The stage result had no effect on overall standings: Porte, riding for US-based BMC Racing Team, remained in first place on general classification, 20 seconds ahead of Gorka Izaguirre of Spain, with Eseban Chaves of Colombia a further two seconds further back.
There was doubt Izaguirre would contest yesterday’s stage after he was involved in a high-speed crash near the end of Thursday’s third stage and taken to a hospital for tests. However, he took his place on the starting line, sore with bruises and abrasions and swathed in bandages, to defend his overall second placing.
Ewan has now had six stage victories in various races this month and is rapidly becoming one of the most admired sprinters on the UCI World Tour.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year,” he said.
Riders battled buffeting crosswinds on much of the day’s stage.
After an early attack involving Tsgabu Grmay of Ethiopia, Maurits Lammertink of the Netherlands and Dries Devernyns of Belgium, which was quickly reclaimed by the peloton, three riders broke away and led for most of the stage.
Ondrej Cink of the Czech Republic, New Zealand’s Jack Bauer and 2011 winner Cameron Meyer of Australia broke away at the 12km mark and stayed away by margins of up to three minutes.
Cink was the first to be caught by the bunch, swallowed by the peloton at the 99km mark. Meyer was next, but Bauer stayed clear until about 10km from the finish.
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