Cadel Evans Heading Toward Yellow In Paris, But CSC Is Ready

By editor on July 22nd, 2008

by Justin Davis

JAUSIERS, France, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - The reputation of Australia’s Cadel
Evans is going in two directions at the Tour de France.

After the second of two days in the Alps on Tuesday, Evans boosted his bid
to win the race’s yellow jersey after surviving the CSC team’s wind-hit
efforts to shake him off on the difficult Cime de la Bonette-Restefond climb.

But the quirky Aussie also showed that the stress of the race can have
negative effects.

Evans’ efforts left him in third place overall at 08sec behind race leader
Frank Schleck of CSC ahead of a likely yellow jersey decider on Wednesday when
the race takes in two monster climbs before finishing on the legendary Alpe
d’Huez.

“Tomorrow’s going to be the mountain stage of the Tour, so it’s a long way
from being over yet,” said Evans, whose strong performance allowed him to take
35secs from Russian Denis Menchov, a potential rival if the race goes down to
the final time trial on Saturday.

For the second time in this race Evans avoided crashing out after just
missing a parked motorbike as he tried to follow an attack on the descent to
Jausiers.

“I was a bit unlucky on the descent, I wanted to go with (Samuel) Sanchez
when he went and just in the corner when I went to pass him a motorbike was
just stopped on the exit of the corner,” he added.

“That gave him 200 meters and he stayed there until a kilometre from the
end.”

Evans ended up coming over the downhill finish line in a ten-man group
which contained Schleck and his Spanish teammate Carlos Sastre, with Menchov
trailing in 35secs later.

The 31-year-old Aussie then showed that racing on the Tour can be as
stressful to the head as it is to the legs.

Evans has become something of a minor hit for cycling fans on You Tube
since the start of this year’s race.

First, it was for taking a whack at an intrusive reporter who got a little
bit too close to an injured left shoulder. That was understandable, given the
pain from a crash days before then that could have spelled the end for Evans.

In the days that followed Evans’s setback, he barked at almost everyone who
got anywhere near him, including one famous TV presenter: “Don’t touch my left
shoulder!”

After the 16th stage, it was an unfortunate cameraman who bore the brunt of
Evans’ efforts to reach his team van.

Running backwards and trying to film the Australian, a frustrated Evans
took a leaf out of Frenchman Zinedine Zidane’s football book of follies and
tried to headbutt the intrusive camera out of the way.

With the help of his Belgian bodyguard Evans got to his team van unscathed,
and admitted: “I’m dehydrated, and I’m cramping.”

Whatever frustration he is feeling, Evans still cannot fail to feel
positive ahead of Wednesday’s stage.

Because of his superb time trialling skills, CSC need to make sure Schleck
and Sastre have a two to three minute lead on the Australian ahead of the
penultimate stage’s 53km race against the clock this Saturday.

Sastre is still 49 off the pace of Schleck, and 41sec behind Evans, meaning
it is imperative that the Spaniard, or the Luxemburger - if either wants the
yellow jersey - need to attack on the 210km 17th stage to the Alpe d’Huez.

CSC team manager Bjarne Riis admitted that adverse wind conditions atop the
day’s second unclassified climb, the Cime de la Bonette-Restefond, had
scuppered their plan to leave their rivals in their wake on Tuesday.

The Dane, who won the 1996 Tour de France, said his riders will have Evans
in their sights, although he admitted that the qualities of recuperation of
each contender will be a big factor.

“To be honest I expected him (Evans) to stay with us today. There was a lot
of wind so it’s just easy to sit on the wheels,” said Riis.

“Everybody suffered a lot today, everybody made a lot of sacrifices and
some will pay for that in their legs tomorrow. But hopefully not us.”

Asked how Schleck or Sastre would deal with Evans on Wednesday, Riis was
unequivocal.

“If you want to win the Tour you need to beat him, you need to drop him for
sure because he’s the fastest (of the contenders) in the time trial,” added
the Dane.

“I think the big battle will be on the Alpe d’Huez, but after the Galibier
and the Croix de Fer if you’re suffering on the Alpe d’Huez you can really
lose a few minutes.

“If you go too deep today, you pay for it tomorrow.”

Photo by: CorVos Pro

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