Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) looked ready to make a mark on the opening sprint stage of the 2022 Tour de France when first he surfed the wheels to sweep up intermediate points and then worked his way into a prime position on the lead into the final sprint. However, when it came down to the final bolt to the line on stage 2 he wasn’t putting down the power, but sitting up and looking down at his bike.
The legs were ready to respond as Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and eventual winner Fabio Jakobsen (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) charged toward the Nyborg line, but the Australian's bike wasn’t.
“I was fighting for wheels, looking to who had the best lead out and then I actually turned the final corner in the last 700m, in a really good position,” said Ewan in a Twitter video from the team. “I was just behind [Peter] Sagan and Jakobsen, and then there was kind of like a prop on the bridge and someone ran into my derailleur and it was bent.”
Still, Ewan wasn't going to give up as the rider, who this year plans to try and make it all the way to Paris, knew that while the win may be out of reach getting the best finishing position possible still mattered.
“My gears were skipping and I just thought I’d sprint anyway to try and get some points," said Ewan. "I knew it was probably going to be too hard to win with skipping gears and then in the last few hundred metres my chain went between my eleven and the frame so then I couldn’t pedal anymore, so [it was] a bit disappointing.”
Ewan came over the line in 13th place, picking up 4 points in the final sprint, adding to the 15 he took in the Kalundborg intermediate sprint when he lead the peloton over the line to take third behind the break of Sven Erik Bystrøm (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) and Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost). That put Ewan in ninth place on the green jersey competition, with 19 points, while van Aert leads with 60 points and Jakobsen sits second with 59 points.
“I think for me to win the green jersey this year I had to be up there in every single sprint that I could be up there in and today I wasn’t, so I think it is all over now,” Ewan said after the race in an interview broadcast on SBS. “My legs felt really good so I’m disappointed I couldn’t sprint today but my bad luck continues, so hopefully some good luck tomorrow.”
The final stage in Denmark provides an opportunity for the Lotto Soudal rider to turn around the misfortune of stage 2, as well as banish the stage 3 memories of the 2021 edition of the race, where he crashed and broke his collarbone on the final run into the line.
Sunday's relatively flat 182km from Vejle to Sønberborg delivers a long run-in on the ring road which should afford ample opportunity for the teams to reel in any last attackers and then line up their sprint trains or, in Ewan's case, drop sprinters into position to surf the wheels.
