Pressure eases for Ewan after first Giro d'Italia stage victory

Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) described his feelings as a mixture of "relief and joy" at clinching a hard-fought first career Giro d'Italia stage victory on Friday in Alberobello after several near misses.

In the twisting, narrow stage 7 finish, the young Australian's combination of speed and good positioning and a strong ride by his team throughout tipped the victory in his favour. But as Ewan explained, the win was more than timely, too, as the pressure he had placed on his own shoulders to win had been rising steadily since last Friday's start in Sardinia.

"I came to this Giro d'Italia with a lot of expectations, and a lot of expectations from myself," Ewan said. "Every sprint that's gone by there's been extra pressure and it's been building and building.

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"The first few stages I got close, but then had some bad luck." That seemed apparent particularly when his foot dislodged from his pedal on Saturday in Tortolí. Ewan still eked out a ninth place though that day, showing, as the Orica-Scott rider said afterwards, that while he was "devastated" by such a late incident wrecking his chances, his underlying form was good.

That good sprinting condition became very clear in Albertobello's tricky sprint finish.

"The last three or four kilometres were really technical, and the most technical part of all were the last 500 metres. I just had to make sure I was in a good position, coming into that last kilometre. Luka [Mezgec] did a perfect lead out, and I went a little bit early. But it was beneficial to get a good line through those corners.

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