Orica-Scott had worked hard for their leader for the majority of the stage, driving the peloton to keep a cap on the distance to a breakaway of seven riders that escaped in the early stages of the 186 km stage.
In the final, lead-out duo Roger Kluge and Luka Mezgec worked to get the young Australian into a good position and after a sketchy final corner, Ewan exploded out from the wheels, established a gap and held on until the finish line for the victory.
“It was another pretty tough day again, not really straight forward as the weather was pretty bad all day,” Ewan said. “The team rode so well, we stayed up near the front out of trouble all day and the guys again did a perfect job at the end.”
“There was a bit of sketchy moment in the final corner and I had to go early. I had a little bit of a gap coming out of the corner but everybody was coming back into positions so I took the chance to jump.
“It was a little bit earlier than I wanted to go but I wanted to get into my aero position and hold as much speed as possible so it is great to hold on and get another stage win here.
“Tomorrow is going to be pretty tough but the last stage could be a bunch sprint again.”
What is perhaps most notable is that Ewan has been consistently out-performing some of his young sprinting rivals in Fernando Gaviria (Quickstep Floors) and Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto NL-Jumbo). The three are sure to be each other's main competition for years to come in the big sprints on the World Tour scene.
