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PARIS, June 30, 2008 (AFP) - Australian rider Cadel Evans of the Silence team has been handed the top bib of number one, traditionally reserved for the winner of previous year’s Tour de France or his team, organizers said Monday.

Evans, runner-up in the 2007 Tour de France, has benefited from the absence of last year’s winner Alberto Contador of Spain and the dissolution of his Discovery Channel team.

Last year, for the first time in the race’s history, the top bib number started at 11 as organizers decided to leave out 1-10 owing to American Floyd Landis’s absence from the race as he awaited an arbitration decision.

Photo by: CorVos Pro