Stage victory for Ewan as Boom maintains Tour of Britain advantage

Australian Caleb Ewan claimed his third stage victory in the 2017 Tour of Britain as Holland’s Lars Boom maintained his lead in the general classification.

Ewan (Orica-Scott) powered to a convincing win after stage six from Newmarket to Aldeburgh came down to a sprint finish. An early seven-man breakaway opened up a gap of almost three minutes and led for nearly 170 kilometres before finally being swept up with just a few kilometres remaining.

Ewan, who won two of the first three stages, was then perfectly positioned to negotiate the final tight right-hand turn before storming to the line ahead of Fernando Gaviria (Quickstep), with Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto NL-Jumbo) in third.

The result means no change in the overall standings with two stages remaining, Boom (Lotto NL-Jumbo) holding a lead of eight seconds over team-mate Victor Campenaerts, with Team Sky’s Vasil Kiryienka a second further back in third.

The highest-placed Briton is Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas, who is 19 seconds off the lead in ninth place.

Saturday’s stage is a 185km ride from Hemel Hempstead to Cheltenham before the race concludes on Sunday with a 180km stage that starts in Worcester and ends in Cardiff.