Caleb Ewan sprinted to his second victory of the week in the OVO Energy Tour of Britain, heading home Edvald Boasson Hagen by less than a wheel width to reclaim the overall lead and the OVO Energy Green Jersey in Scunthorpe.
The Orica Scott rider followed up his opening day win in Kelso by out sprinting Boasson Hagen and European Champion Alexander Kristoff, to move six seconds ahead of overnight leader Elia Viviani who finished seventh in the bunch sprint.
The bunch brought back the remains of the day’s breakaway with around 15-kilometres of racing to go, with Philippe Gilbert then causing panic among the sprinters teams by jumping clear on the drag up to the line.
Interview – Caleb Ewan – Stage 3 Winner – OVO Tour of Britain 2017 by Cycling Shorts
The media speak to Caleb Ewan after he storms to another stage win in the OVO Tour of Britain 2017 and takes control of GC. All content & Images ©www.cyclingshorts.cc | www.chrismaher.co.uk
Today was a tough day obviously with the weather, [said Ewan after the rainy conditions that swept the North Lincolnshire leg of the Tour]. So it wasn’t as straight forward as we would have hoped and I think it made it a bit harder.
We had to sit at the front all day, taking a bit of the wind and then with the hill coming up close to the finish line that made it a bit tricky as well.
After Gilbert went, I was pretty confident in Luka Mezgec, he knows what he is doing so I could just follow him. He had to go pretty much full gas as soon as he started the lead out so that made it harder for me as well.
To be honest, I was on his wheel and pretty pinned. As soon as he swung off I just gave it my all and did a big lunge for the line and luckily I just got the win ahead of Eddie.
As well as win number two Ewan moves back into the lead of the Wiggle Points Jersey, five points ahead of Viviani.
For full results and standings from Stage Three, please click here.
It was also a brilliant day for Team JLT Condor who managed to get two riders, Graham Briggs and Ian Bibby, in the five-rider breakaway. The duo worked brilliantly together to make sure that between them they took maximum points in all of the day’s intermediate competitions, resulting in Briggs picking up the Eisberg Sprints and SKODA King of the Mountains jerseys.
A terrific day for the team was capped off by Australian sprinter Brenton Jones taking fourth place on the stage overall.
Elsewhere, BIKE Channel Canyon’s Harry Tanfield was awarded the HIGH5 Combativity Award for the day after continually animating the break.
Stage Four of the OVO Energy Tour of Britain takes place in Nottinghamshire with the county hosting its first full stage. The stage begins in Mansfield town centre at 11:00 with live coverage on ITV4 from 10.45am, with the finish alongside Sconce and Devon Park in Newark-on-Trent after 164-kilometres of racing.
Highlights from the third stage of the OVO Energy Tour of Britain will be on ITV4 at 8pm on Tuesday evening (5 September) with a repeat the following morning.
| Stage Four | Wednesday 6 September | Mansfield to Newark-on-Trent | 165km |
| Stage Five | Thursday 7 September | The Tendring Stage Individual Time Trial | 16km |
| Stage Six | Friday 8 September | Newmarket to Aldeburgh | 187km |
| Stage Seven | Saturday 9 September | Hemel Hempstead to Cheltenham | 185km |
| Stage Eight | Sunday 10 September | Worcester to Cardiff | 180km |
Chris Maher
Photographer & Writer
Based in the North East of England; photographer Chris Maher specialises in sports photography with his main interests in Cycling and Super Bikes. Chris has covered sports events from local and national level right up to the Olympics for CyclingShorts.cc.
Website: www.ChrisMaher.co.uk
Anna Magrath
Editor & Writer
Anna Magrath founded CyclingShorts.cc in 2008 and invited some of her cycling friends; coaches, photographers, writers and pro cyclists of different disciplines to join her, bringing you all things cycling related.
Over the years Anna has supported grass roots cycling events, riders and teams. Anna has a particular interest in Track, Road, womens cycling, recreational cycling and cycling related art. She has reported from the top cycle races on the world calendar including the Tour de France, Olympics, World Cups & World Championships.
Want to get involved? Why not get in touch.
CyclingShorts.cc are official sponsors of The Racing Chance Foundation, Team22 WRT, Team Jadan and cyclists Amy Gornall & Fraser Martin.
