Australian cyclist, Caleb Ewan, has won the famous final stage of the Tour de France, along the Champs-Elysees.
Ewan, who was making his debut at the Tour de France, said “It’s unbelievable. When we rolled onto the Champs-Elysees, I almost had tears in my eyes. It’s such a surreal feeling and I can’t believe I won the stage… A pretty surreal Tour de France. A third stage victory, and this time this sprinters’ stage, with your parents here, with your wife here. It’s amazing.”
Ewan had previously won four stages in Grand Tour races, before his Tour de France debut this year, and also winning three stages of the just-completed Tour. The obvious highlight was winning the prestigious final sprint up the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
The 2019 Tour de France Overall Winner was 22 year old Colombian rider Egan Bernal. Bernal is the first Colombian to ever take the yellow jersey and the youngest Tour de France winner in the post-World War II era. Bernal’s teammate, 33-year-old Welshman, Geraint Thomas was placed second. The British Ineos team has now posted its seventh Tour victory with four different winning riders in eight years. Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk was the third placed rider on Sunday.
Photo: Brad Ewan said it was a surreal feeling to win his third stage, and the final sprint of this year’s Tour de France. (Reuters: Christian Hartmann)
Photo: Colombia’s Egan Bernal won overall honours, finishing with the yellow Jersey. (AP: Thibault Camus)
On the final run-in on the Champs-Elysees, Ewan was next to rival Dylan Groenewegen trailing three leaders as the sprint got serious.
Both men turned up the pressure at the same time. Groenewegen chose to go around the leaders’ left-hand side, while Ewan took a chance by going down the less commonly chosen right side. Five riders approached the finish line virtually abreast, but it was Ewan’s final burst of speed that got him over the line ahead of the Dutchman to seal victory on the stage.
