Caleb Ewan edges out Peter Sagan and Sam Bennett to claim victory in 11th stage of Tour de France

Caleb Ewan snatched victory on stage 11 of the Tour de France in Poitiers.

The 167.5km stage from Chatelaillon-Plage came down to the expected sprint finish with Ewan taking his second stage of the Tour while Peter Sagan claimed second ahead of Sam Bennett in a photo finish.

Ewan was a close second to Bennett 24 hours earlier on the Ile de Re but this time had the speed to come past the Irishman just before the line.

Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Bennett had been hoping to repeat the victory of fellow Irishman Sean Kelly the last time a Tour stage finished in Poitiers back in 1978 but had to settle for retaining the green jersey, with his advantage over Sagan cut to 15 points.

There was no change at the top of the general classification, with Slovenian Primoz Roglic of Jumbo-Visma continuing to lead from defending champion Egan Bernal of the Ineos Grenadiers.

Victory for Australian Ewan followed his success on stage three to Sisteron.

‘It was very, very hectic,’ the Lotto-Soudal rider said.

‘I knew from the first stage that I won just to stay calm and wait for the right gap to open. I just had a real desire to win today after yesterday and I’m happy to repay my team-mates with the win.’

A messy finale saw Jumbo-Visma’s Wout Van Aert open it up early in pursuit of a third stage victory, but Sagan forced his way through on the inside, and beat Bennett with a bike throw on the line.