Caleb Yuan (Lotto-Soudal) surfed through the intermediate points of the opening sprint stage of the 2022 Tour de France and was well positioned in the lead group for the final sprint. But as he approached the final bolt of the second stage, he put no effort into it, sitting back and looking down at his bike.

When Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) and eventual winner Fabio Jacobsen (Quick-Step Alphavinil) came charging toward Niebaut's line, his legs were ready to react, but the Australian's bike was not.

"We were trading wheels, looking for who had the best lead. I was right behind [Peter] Sagan and Jacobsen, and then there was some kind of prop on the bridge and someone hit my derailleur and bent it."

Still, Ewan wasn't about to give up. Planning to challenge all the way to Paris this year, Ewan knew that while the win may be out of reach, getting the best possible finishing position was important.

"My gear went flying and I decided to sprint anyway and take the points," he said.

"In the last few hundred meters my chain got between the eleven and the frame and I couldn't pedal anymore.

Ewan finished 13th, earning four points in the final sprint. In addition to the 15 points he earned in the Carombaud intermediate sprint, he finished third behind Sven-Erik Byström (Intermarque Wanty-Gobert) and Magnus Kort (EF Education-Easy Post). With this result, Ewan now has 19 points and is in ninth place in the battle for the green jersey. Meanwhile, van Aert is in first place with 60 points, while Jacobsen is in second place with 59 points.

"To win the green jersey this year, I had to be on top in every sprint," van Aert said. My legs felt really good, so it's a shame I couldn't sprint today, but with all the bad luck I've been having, hopefully I'll have better luck tomorrow."

The final stage in Denmark is an opportunity for the Lotto-Soudal riders to overturn their bad luck on stage 2 and wipe away memories of stage 3 in the 2021 edition.

Sunday's relatively flat 182 km from Vejle to Sønberborg will be a great opportunity for teams to reel in their last attackers, align their sprint trains, or in Euan's case, run sprinters.