Caleb Ewan Doubles Up in Nimes
Nîmes, Tuesday, July 23rd 2019 – Caleb Ewan took his second win of the 2019 Tour de France overcoming blistering heat on the road to Nîmes. He became the second U26 rider to win a stage in each of the Grand tours, emulating Mark Cavendish.
The Australian, who outsprinted a grand triplet of sprinters, Elia Viviani (QST), Dylan Groenewegen and Peter Sagan, credited his win to the motivation of having his wife and baby daughter at the finish.
Julian Alaphilippe retained the yellow jersey after a day embedded in the peloton, but the General Classification had a rejig with the abandonment of Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) – see medical report below.
Copyright ASO/Pauline_BALLET
Speaking shortly after the stage Caleb Ewan said:
“Blah Blah Blah”
“The fact that my wife and daughter are at the race for the first time, makes it really special. It is incredibly beautiful to celebrate this victory together with them. It was difficult to keep the confidence after some second and third places. I finally got it right in stage eleven. Now, the next sprint chance immediately delivers a second victory, that is just amazing! If I am the best sprinter in this Tour? I think there are some really good sprinters here. Maybe, I proved to be the most consistent one, but in any case, today I showed to be the best.”
“I came here with the first objective to help my brother, the second to try to get a stage win. Now I have two so I’m very proud. This one was really hard, the first wasn’t easy, but this one, with the parcours was extremely difficult.
“I’m very tired now but there are three very hard stages in the final week so we will try again.”
Jakob Fuglsang abandons following crash
Astana pro Team issued the following medical update on Jakob Fuglsang, who was lying in 9th overall on GC when he suffered a bad crash with less than 30km to go:
Due to a crash in stage 16 of the Tour de France, Jakob Fuglsang had to abandon the race and was brought to the organizations medical truck. The results of the examinations: Heavy contusions and abrasions of his hand, arms, and knees. Radiography showed no fractures. There will follow more examinations in the next days to decide the expected time of recovery.
“I’m really disappointed about leaving the Tour de France this way, but there was too much pain to continue. Somebody crashed in front of me and there was no way to avoid it, so I crashed over my handlebar. My hand directly swallowed up and I could barely stand on my feet, I directly knew my Tour would finish here. I was very motivated for the final week and I was ready to battle for a higher position in the GC. That this has to be the way of missing out on this battle, is just very disappointing. Now all the focus will be on recovering, both physically as mentally, because the Tour was a big goal after my wins in Liége and the Dauphiné.” – Jakob Fuglsang
Stage 16 Results
Stage 17 Preview:
Stage 17 sees the peloton tackle 200km through the mountains form Pont du Gard to Gap. It’s a route that may suit an adventurous breakaway. The last stretch crosses the 981m 3rd Category Col de la Sentinelle before a fast descent to the finish. Both Alaphillipe and Thibaut Pinot will fancy their chances of gaining a few seconds.
