But with 70 kilometres left of Friday’s 193km stage,the Sydneysider clipped the back wheel of a teammate’s bike when taking a sweeping left-hand turn and came down heavily on his left knee.
The bloodied Ewan,who’d already suffered one heavy fall earlier in the race when he crashed into a hay bale,remounted and was guided by his team back to the peloton.
But it proved too much and the sprinter was eventually dropped on the Cote de Saint-Romain-en-Gal climb with about 50 kilometres left.
Ewan limped home one from last on the stage,some 20 minutes down on the stage winner,Mads Pedersen.
Former world champion Pedersen had attacked from the start,then delivered in style on the finish line to claim his first stage win.
After spending the day at the front,the one-day specialist attacked from a group of six riders with 12 kilometres left,dropping three rivals on the road into Saint-Etienne.