‘Pocket Rocket’ Caleb Ewan flies out of nowhere for Tour de France win

Australian rider says stage three victory proves that last year’s success was ‘no fluke’

Caleb Ewan hopes to “keep winning” after taking victory in a sprint finish to stage three of the Tour de France in Sisteron, denying Irishman Sam Bennett on the line.

Australian Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) seemed to appear from nowhere to weave his way through a congested bunch and pass Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick Step) just before the finish line.

Italian and European road race champion Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT) finished third while Julian Alaphilippe held on to the yellow jersey.

It was Ewan’s fourth Tour stage win after three victories on his debut last year and after the race he said: “The last few days haven’t been great for us, after we crashed on the first day and lost a couple of guys.

“But everyone stayed motivated and we all knew if it all went right, I could win the sprint today. Everyone today gave it 110 per cent and it worked.

“This is the biggest race in the world and I’m so happy to get another win and prove last year wasn’t a fluke. I hope to keep coming back and keep winning.

“With the calibre of sprinter
here it’s always going to be hard but we have a few more opportunities and I think 
we’ll take them when they come.”

Ewan displayed excellent bike handling skills to navigate
his way through what was a chaotic finish.

The 26-year-old narrowly avoided Peter Sagan’s back wheel and the right-hand side barrier to get on to Bennett’s wheel before he kicked clear with tremendous speed at the 50-metre marker.

“I was a bit too far forward in the final kilometre so I dropped back and gave myself a bit of a rest,” said Ewan

“I found my way through the wheels. Coming from behind, it’s a bit of a risk, but I found my way along the barrier and I came with a lot of speed and it worked.”

Living up to his nickname of “Pocket Rocket,” the 5ft 5in Ewan reached a top speed of 68.8 kph (42.7 mph) in the finale.

Three-time world champion Sagan faded to finish fifth but picked up enough points to replace stage one winner Alexander Kristoff in the green points jersey.

After the opening two stages around Nice, the race veered inland over a 198-kilometre route to Sisteron, which is labeled the “Gateway to Provence”.

The route featured four minor climbs before a flat finish suited to sprinters.

Three French riders – Anthony Perez, Jerome Cousin and Benoit Cosnefroy – broke away at the start and established an advantage of nearly three minutes.

Cousin then launched a solo attack midway through the stage and created a lead of more than four minutes. Cousin was finally caught by the main pack with 16 kilometres remaining.

Perez, meanwhile, crashed into his team car on a high-speed descent after puncturing a tire and broke his left collarbone – forcing him to abandon the race. It was an especially unfortunate accident for Perez, since he had already gained enough points to don the polka-dot mountains classification jersey after the stage.

Today’s Stage 4 features the race’s first uphill finish with a climb to Orcieres-Merlette that should force the overall favourites – such as Team Ineos’ defending champion Egan Bernal – into action.

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