by Justin Davis

ALPE D’HUEZ, France, July 23, 2011 (AFP) – After two near-misses in 2007 and 2008, Cadel Evans’ recipe to become Australia’s first Tour de France champion appears to be startling simple.

“Start as fast as possible, finish as fast as possible and hope it’s fast
enough,” Evans said Friday when asked his feelings on the penultimate stage
time trial that will decide the 98th edition of the race Saturday.

To reduce Evans’ efforts, this year and all the other years he has battled for cycling’s holy grail, to such a simple formula would fail to do justice to the determination shown by him and his BMC team on the race’s 98th edition.

Yet the truth is, a 42 km race against the clock in Grenoble will be decisive.

After what many believe has been the hardest race in years, Evans will go into Saturday’s penultimate stage with a 57sec deficit to new race leader Andy Schleck.

Leopard-Trek team leader Schleck took possession of the yellow jersey on Friday when he finished in a group containing most of the favorites just over 30sec behind reigning champion Alberto Contador.

With his older brother Frank in second overall at 53, it looks like the cycling siblings from tiny but hilly Luxembourg have the race at their mercy.

“The Tour has been quite good for me so far, I’ve had one bad day, my legs are good and I’m confident I can actually keep this (yellow jersey) till Paris,” said Andy Schleck after taking the race lead from Thomas Voeckler.

Logic dictates that Evans, a stronger time triallist than the Schlecks, can beat the brothers hands down.

But he is taking nothing for granted.

“Of course, I’d much rather be in yellow with five minutes (lead) going into the time trial,” he added.

Despite the exaggeration of what he would need to secure victory, Evans has reason to be reticent.

In 2007 he finished second to Levi Leipheimer in the final time trial, missing out on overall victory to Contador by just 23secs.

A year later he was stunned by Carlos Sastre when the Spaniard, helped by the Schleck brothers, launched an attack at the foot of the Alpe d’Huez to win the stage and take the yellow jersey.

On the following day’s time trial, Evans underperformed spectacularly as
Sastre, wearing the yellow jersey, won the race by almost a minute.

That loss, according to former professional Allan Peiper — now a sports director with HTC-Highroad — was mainly because of Evans’s efforts earlier in the season.

“It comes more down to how much reserves you have left in the tank,” Peiper told AFP.

“I look back a few years when Cadel Evans did fantastically in the Dauphine Libere, and then lost the Tour in the final time trial — not because somebody else beat him but because he didn’t do the time trial that Cadel can normally do.

“That’s when you can say that if you leave too much on the road in the Dauphine you might not have it those last days in the Tour.”

After two forgettable years on the race when he finished well out of the podium places, Evans this year has returned far stronger and far more focused.

He started his season later than usual, and when he did he quickly took overall stage race win at the Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour of Romandie.

A month before the Tour he confirmed his form with a fourth career runner-up finish at the Criterium du Dauphine, where he finished sixth in the exact same time trial to be used on Saturday.

Neither Contador nor the Schleck brothers raced the Dauphine.

While Schleck believes the course “will suit” his riding, the Luxemburger admitted: “It’s not finished yet. We know Cadel is a time trial specialist, and I’m not.”

He is now hoping the lure of victory in Paris on Sunday, when the sprinters and green jersey contenders traditionally take over the stage, is enough.

“I think I stand a chance. A time trial at the end of a three week tour is different than a time trial on any other day,” added Schleck.

“Many riders say the yellow jersey gives you wings. I’m confident I can do well tomorrow and bring the jersey home for Luxembourg.”