The look on Caleb Yuan's face said it all as he crossed the finish line on stage 3 of the Tour de France and walked straight back to the team bus.

He did not gesture vigorously. In fact, he was still and calm. But he had a stony expression on his face, as if he had grown accustomed to things going wrong.

Ewan was having one of those seasons. After breaking his rear derailleur on stage 2, he was forced into the barriers on stage 3 in Sousa Bois. While going right, he had to stop sprinting to avoid hitting the barriers and crashing.

"It was definitely a squeeze," Ewan told reporters after taking a shower to collect his thoughts.

"They started sprinting in the middle of the road and the right side was open, so I went to the right, and everybody went to the right."

The sprint began when Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl lead-out man Mikhail Morkov slipped aside and Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) darted for the line with 200 meters to go. However, Peter Sagan (Total Energy), who was chasing Van Aert, blocked Ewan's path.

"I think it started with Van Aert, but then Sagan swung a little more dramatically to the right."

Ewan was clearly angry and felt he was "a couple of centimeters" before crashing hard. He suggested that a deviation from the sprint line was enough to warrant punishment.

"If I kept sprinting and didn't brake, I would run into the barriers and of course something would happen. Interpretations of the rules are always different. Some races will disqualify you, some will not.

"Nobody knows what the rules are. They sprinted off the line, but that's sprinting. There is always a sprint off the line."

Ewan came to the Tour de France after lining up in the Giro d'Italia again, but while he won two stages in Italy last year, he endured what he described as "the Giro from hell" this May. The Tour de France is likely to be a similar story.

"It's frustrating. I can only think that I had no luck.

"We certainly had the legs to win. I started sprinting at the same time as Dylan [Groenewegen]. In a drag race I would have gone a little bit further because we have similar speed. I'm not saying I would have won, but I would have battled."

Ewan will travel with the Tour circus from Denmark to France on Sunday evening, with a rest day on Monday. The race continues with the possibility of a sprint win on Tuesday's stage 4 in Calais. Despite his disappointment, Ewan is optimistic that his luck will turn from here to Paris.

"The positive thing is that I am in good shape and the team is good.

"As long as I have confidence in my form, one day it will be like me."