Caleb Ewan has kicked off the 2017 Tour of Britain in style, taking a very close sprint victory ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and Elia Viviani (Team Sky).
The 23-year-old launched out from the wheel of Slovenian champion Luka Mezgec in the final few hundred metres and battled across the bumpy cobbles to steal the sprint victory in a photo finish and move into the overall race lead.
“We came through the finish line during the race so I got to look at the road surface and I knew it was going to be a pretty bumpy sprint,” Ewan said. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to go down into my normal low sprinting position and I had to stay a bit more upright.”
“It was a tough day, it was really windy and some teams were trying to split it. It is great to take the win after our team controlled the race really well all day.
“As soon as the breakaway went the guys went up to the front and they basically controlled the race, almost from the start to finish, so hats off to them.”
Tour of Britain 2017 – stage 1 results (Edinburgh – Kelso):
| 1 | Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) | 4:34:17 |
| 2 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 3 | Elia Viviani (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 4 | Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 5 | Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 6 | Christopher Lawless (Great Britain) | ,, |
| 7 | Brenton Jones (JLT Condor) | ,, |
| 8 | Nikolas Maes (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 9 | Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 10 | Floris Gerts (BMC) | ,, |
