Two things stand out about Caleb Yuan's Grand Tour results. One is that he often has at least one win, and the other is that he often has DNF next to his name. This Tour de France, however, was different in these two respects.

The Lotto-Soudal riders battled through the mountains, looking for a last chance to win on the Champs-Elysées while completing their first Grand Tour in two years. His victory on the final stage was a reward for his constant battle with time loss in the mountains, and coincided with the 28-year-old sprinter's last place in the overall standings. 8th,

Ewan, however, was chased down from the left side in a sprint contest on the Champs Elysees, finishing 8th. 2022 His final satisfaction at the Tour de France came from other emotions.

"The most positive thing is that I finished the race, and I think in a few years I should have done the full Grand Tour," Ewan told Australian television station SBS.

"I think it's a positive for the rest of this season and next season. But obviously I came here with the aim of winning a stage and in that sense I failed. [He has five wins in the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia and one in the Vuelta a España. He has won at least one stage in six of those Grand Tours and has finished second in two more. In fact, the only time he has failed to finish on at least a stage podium is in last year's Tour de France, where he broke his collarbone in a high-speed sprint on stage 3.

This time he finished the race for only the third time in Grand Tour history, but his best stage result was eighth.

Despite coming into the race as one of the sprint contenders, chances were slim for the sprinters, and Ewan's chances were further diminished by bad luck on key stages, including a bent derailleur on stage 2, a crash on stage 3, and a crash on stage 13.

However, the team's chances were slimmer.

But now that he has completed a Grand Tour and strengthened his form, Ewan is looking ahead to the rest of the season.

He will shift his focus to next month's Commonwealth Games, a one-day race to earn points for Lotto Soudal, which is facing relegation from the World Tour, and his country's own world championships in Wollongong in September.

He finished the Tour de France in 138th place, more than 5 hours and 40 minutes behind winner Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), but he has other priorities.

"I think I got a free holiday or something," Ewan said of this year's L'Entente Rouge prize, sponsored by travel agency Lastminute.com.

"I'll probably need it after this tour."