Caleb Ewan will continue at Giro d'Italia despite stage one crash, says team

Caleb Ewan will continue at the Giro d'Italia 2022 despite his crash on stage one, his Lotto-Soudal team have confirmed.

Ewan touched the back wheel of Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) in the closing sprint of the opening stage of the Giro, hitting the ground hard on his left shoulder.

After laying on the road for a few moments the Australian was able to return to his feet of his own accord, though looked battered and bruised, his left shoulder exposed where his skinsuit had ripped on impact with the tarmac.

Ewan was in an unexpectedly good position considering the severity of the final climb to the line on the 195km stage from Budapest to Visegrád, but trailed Girmay and eventual winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) in the closing metres. Head down and clearly at maximum effort, the 27-year-old narrowly caught Girmay's rear wheel as they sprinted, sending him sprawling to the ground. Ewan eventually crossed the line on a broken bike 1-04 down on Van der Poel in 76th place.

Although he missed out on the stage victory and the chance to wear the race's first maglia rosa, Ewan will be pleased to be able to continue in the race. His team confirmed his injuries are not severe and that he'll take to the start of the 9.2km time trial on stage two, which will afford him a chance to recover before the next road stage.

"Unfortunately, Caleb Ewan touched the back wheel of Girmay, which caused him to crash just before the finish line," Lotto-Soudal said in a statement.

"Apart from several abrasions, Caleb came away without any severe injuries and will take the start in the ITT tomorrow."

Ewan's avoidance of race-ending injury is in stark contrast to his last Grand Tour at the Tour de France last year, where he crashed in another chaotic sprint finish on stage three and was forced to abandon the race with a broken collarbone.