Last year Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) got through all 21 stages of the Tour de France without a single podium place to show for it but in 2023 it has taken just one sprint to make it to those steps, leaving the Australian looking forward to the rest of the Grand Tour with a degree of optimism that a win is coming.
With the tough start to the race in Spain, it wasn’t until the third stage that the sprinters had their first chance this year, with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) taking the win after benefiting from a flawless lead out on the challenging chicane run in, while Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) came second and Ewan made a late run to take third.
“It was as we expected a very hectic finish,” Ewan told reporters after the stage. “The first few stages of the Tour, especially the sprints, are always very hectic.
“With the last kilometre, it was always slightly almost bending so if you go to move on one side the door shuts and if you go to move on the other side the door shuts, so I had to be patient but I was a bit too patient because I was a bit too far back to start. Not the worst start but not the best.”
What Ewan really wanted was, of course, the win which would have broken his Tour de France stage drought and added to the five victories he took at the race across 2019 and 2020. Still making it back to the podium at the French Grand Tour for the first time in three years – he crashed out on stage 3 in 2021 and then had a best stage result of eighth on the Champs-Élysées in 2022 – was a good start.
“The first few days were tough but I felt good,” said Ewan. “I felt good again today so I think there are a lot of positive signs.”
“It would be nice to get the win and take the pressure off straight away but its not the first time I haven’t won the first sprint. I’ll keep going and there are more opportunities and I’m going to stay pretty positive that I can get a stage here.”
Ewan, however, is certainly mindful of the scale of that task this year, with a field filled with powerful foes.
“I think the sprint field compared to last year is a lot better. Everyone is super strong, all the teams are super strong so it is not really the normal classic, one team does a lead out and and everyone fights for the back of that team,” said Ewan.
“It’s hard to know who to follow now. The first few years I did the Tour there was usually always one team that was the strongest and if you lost your team you would just follow them but now it is a little bit too confusing who to follow … it is a lot harder to judge now.”
The 28-year-old and the rest of the sprinters will not have to wait long for another opportunity to try, however, with a stage 4 finish on the Nogaro motor racing circuit expected to play into the hands of the fast men.
