Caleb Ewan wins another close sprint finish in Tour of Britain to move back into race lead

Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) sprinted to his second stage win of the 2017 Tour of Britain as he edged out Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) in a close finish in Scunthorpe.

The Australian sprinter had lead-out man Luka Mezgec to thank for reeling in a late attack by Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors), before Ewan launched his final acceleration for the line.

Ewan and Boasson Hagen were well clear of most of the rest of the sprinters with only Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) in their wheels, and it was Ewan who won by half a wheel on the line.

Erstwhile race leader Elia Viviani (Team Sky) finished in seventh place and out of the time bonuses, meaning that the leader's green jersey went back to Ewan.

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How it happened

The third stage of the 2017 Tour of Britain rolled out from Normanby Hall under teeming rain, with the slick roads taking no prisoners as James Lowsley-Williams (Bike Channel-Canyon) crashed on a slipper right-hand bend while trying to get away from the peloton.

After a few kilometres five riders were able to escape, all from British domestic teams, and including Graham Briggs (JLT Condor) who made it into the break for the third day in succession. Also in the move were Harry Tanfield (Bike Channel-Canyon), Peter Williams (One Pro Cycling), Matthew Holmes (Madison Genesis), and Briggs's JLT-Condor team-mate Ian Bibby.

The break established and given a lead of around 3-30, Team Sky moved to the front of the peloton to control the race in the testing wet and windy conditions.

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Geraint Thomas was the Sky rider charged with maintaining the gap, and he did a sterling job setting the pace almost single handedly while Briggs led the race through all of the intermediate sprints and over the first two KOM points to move into the lead of both competitions.

With 75km remaining the gap finally started to fall, the seconds ticking away and falling under two minutes for the first time with 35km to go.

By that point Katusha-Alpecin and Orica-Scott had joined Team Sky in the chase, and just after the final KOM point at Winterton which was taken by Bibby, the catch was made.

From there a bunch sprint seemed inevitable, but that didn't deter Rob Partridge (Bike Channel-Canyon) nor Simone Andreeta (Bardiani CSF), both of whom launched solo attacks which were duly reeled in by the sprinters' trains.

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Having held back for most of the Dimension Data hit the front en masse with four kilometres remaining, four riders sitting in front of Edvald Boasson Hagen, who was hoping to make amends for being relegated on stage two.

With 600m Philippe Gilbert attempted to upset the odds with a strong late attack, but was reeled in by a strong lead-out effort by Luka Mezgec (Orica-Scott), before Ewan burst clear.

The diminutive Australian was challenged hard by Boasson Hagen, but held off the Norwegian's challenge to take his second stage win of the race and move back into the overall lead.

Results

Tour of Britain 2017, stage three: Normanby Hall Country Park to Scunthorpe, 178km

1. Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott, in 4-04-05

2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data

3. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin

4. Brenton Jones (NZl) JLT Condor

5. Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin

6. Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Groupe Gobert

7. Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky

8. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors

9. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Movistar

10. Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, all at same time

General classification after stage three

1. Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott, in 4-04-05

2. Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky, at 6 secs

3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data, at 7 secs

4. Karol Domagalski (Pol) One Pro Cycling, at 14 secs

5. Silvan Dillier (Sui) BMC Racing, at 15 secs

6. Kamil Gradek (Pol) One Pro Cycling, at 15 secs

7. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin, at 16 secs

8. Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors, at 16 secs

9. Lars Boom (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo, at 18 secs

10. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors, at 20 secs