Ewan wins opening stage at Tour of Turkey

Caleb Ewan has won the opening stage of the Tour of Turkey after besting Jasper Philipsen and compatriot Kaden Groves in a bunch sprint in Kusadasi.

Caleb Ewan (Lotto Souda) celebrates after winning the opening stage of the Tour of Turkey Source: Getty Images

Ewan's return to winning ways comes almost one month after illness forced him out of Milan-San Remo, and marks the first time he's led the Turkish standings heading into day two.

"It gives me a really good feeling to immediately win during my return to racing," Ewan said.

"To be honest, I didn't feel too good at the start of this tough stage. But that seemed quite logical as I recently started training again.

"As the stage progressed, I started feeling better and even on the climb I still felt reasonably comfortable."

Day one offered the peloton over 200 kilometres between Bodrum to Kusadasi, and Turkish rider Halil Dogun (BikeAid) was the first to attack alongside Julen Irizar (Euskaltel), Jonathan Clarke (Wildlife Generation), Vitaliy Buts (Sakarya), Burak Abay (Spor Toto) and Abram Stockman (Satis Rouvy).

The breakaway's gap reached as much as five minutes at one point, before sprint teams Alpecin-Fenix, Bora-Hansgrohe, BikeExchange-Jayco and Israel-Premier Tech kept it to three.

Ewan's Lotto Soudal didn't make their move until the final 50 kilometres, when the deficit of the peloton was reduced to less than a minute ahead of the last official climb of the stage.

Arkea-Samsic took control of the 4-kilometre trek to the summit but the downhill was not without casualties, as several crashes reduced the pack with 20 kilometres remaining.

Ewan emerged unscathed from the action and was joined by teammates Jasper de Buyst and Harm Vanhoucke who soon took command of the bunch during the downhill kilometres to the finish.

De Buyst and Michael Schwarzmann then delivered an impressive lead-out for Ewan, and the 27-year-old Australian rewarded their efforts with a powerful push to the line ahead of Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) and Groves (BikeExchange-Jayco).

Speaking after the race, Ewan said: "With several crashes on the descent and plenty of attacks, it was a chaotic final but the guys did an amazing job to make it a sprint in the end.

"In the really fast closing kilometres, we just knew we had to be in front. Michael Schwarzmann and Jasper de Buyst just executed the plan to perfection.

"Jasper made a huge effort to drop me off exactly where I needed to be. Then it was a case of launching my sprint and keeping it until the line. 

"This victory gives me - after missing Milan-San Remo and some Belgian Classics - a really good feeling. 

"The Tour of Turkey is a race I really love and it's important to gain confidence here towards the Giro. Today was a first success but there will be plenty of opportunities to come."

Ewan will now wear the turquoise jersey on stage two from Selcuk to Alacati.