Ewan wins Tour Down Under opener

Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) took the first victory of the 2017 WorldTour Tuesday when he out-sprinted Team Sky's Danny Van Poppel and Bora-Hansgrohe's Sam Bennett at the end of stage 1 of the Tour Down Under.

Ewan blasted up the left side of the finishing straight to overcome a lead-out for Bennett by world champion Peter Sagan, while Van Poppel staked out his ground down the middle of the road. Sagan had an early advantage, but Ewan and Van Poppel were quickly able to get on terms with Sagan as he drove Bennett toward the line.

The planned 145km stage from Unley to Lyndoch was shortened to 118km because of extreme heat as temperatures soared above 40 degrees. With one of the final loops lopped off, riders faced two finishing circuits around Lyndoch rather than three.

“It was really stinking hot out there today,” Ewan said at the finish line. “I think everyone felt the heat and it was probably a good idea for organisers to shorten it a little bit.

“I’m super happy to get the win, it was a really close one in the end. A lot of guys ran out of lead out men in that last straight because there was a bit of head wind.

“There was a lot of pressure coming back here with the same finish as last year. I felt the pressure to do the same thing and win. It’s a relief and it’s a great start to the week. It’ll put the whole team on a high and hopefully we can do something like last year.”

The stage was animated early on by Astana’s Laurens De Vreese, who escaped alone after just 3km and held off the bunch until less tan 20km to go. The 29-year-old visibly struggled, his tires sticking to the tarmac as the sun baked down upon him and he constantly checked back in the hope that the peloton would catch him.

Once again Ewan timed his charge the line perfectly, and he caught Bennett off guard as the Irishman swung around Sagan inside the final 150 meters. Ewan, confident, compact, and calculating, sealed the win and with that pulled on the first leader’s jersey of this year’s race.

The Orica rider leads Van Poppel by four seconds with Bennett in third. McCarthy leads the overall contenders in fourth with Nathan Haas and Simon Gerrans just behind him.

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