Ewan (Lotto Soudal) was hurtling to the finish line to try and claim what was the first winning opportunity for sprinters when a touch of wheels brought him and former world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) down,as Belgian Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) powered to victory.
Sagan appeared uninjured when he rode past the finish but Ewan,after sliding on his back along the bitumen,was sat up and assessed at the scene before being transported to hospital.
“Usually when you crash at first you don’t feel so much,the adrenaline is there,but straight away I felt a lot of pain,” Ewan said on Monday night.
“Then they were pressing on my collarbone and I could feel it clicking so I thought ‘it’s not good’. It’s the first bone I’ve ever broken but they told me it’s broken in four spots. I have to get some surgery to put it back into place but I think out of any bone to be broken it’s one of the easiest to come back from recovery-wise. This is part of cycling unfortunately,I just have to let it heal.”
The narrow roads in the finale and a downhill approach into the finishing straight worried some competitors,who apparently raised concerns about the safety of the course with the CPA rider’s union before the start in Lorient.
Speaking post-race,Ewan’s teammate Roger Kluge said the approach to the final three kilometres,the marker where the title contenders are safe from losing time and so move back from fighting for position with sprint teams at the front of the peloton,was dangerous.