Touroscopy - Cadel Evans - looking behind is not an option
Saturday, 26 July 2008 04:17
After some weeks of racing and some huge days in the mountains the Tour de France will come down to one 53 kilometre effort. The rules of this engagement are simple. You cannot let yourself give up for one second. You have to believe that you have it both your heart and legs that you have the speed to win. That's the tough part because of that X factor. The practical part of this says that Evans needs to make up 1.34 to get his dream of yellow. So who wins?
The Time Trial Players
Cadel Evans - The red hot favorite to win the Tour has not had a pleasant ride round the lap of France. Essentially doing a lot of his own defending through the mountains Cadel has played a lone hand in making his dreams of yellow a reality. He is know for being better in week three than in week one. Evans is the best time trialist of the all the General Classification (GC) contenders and has been working for this for he past year when he was in a similar position chasing the lead set by Alberto Contador. He was short then but is stronger than he was last season. Evans must just go full gas for the duration and leave nothing out there on the course except tyre marks!
Carlos Sastre - The real question here lies whether the yellow jersey, the world's most recognisable piece of sports wear, gives extra strength. It has a history of making the riders who wear it stronger. If myth becomes reality then Sastre has to use all the juice the jersey can provide. Sastre is a true climber and does not have the strength Evans does on the flat lands. This time trial course is a tough one and if Sastre elects to get Evans' time checks throughout the race he better hope they are going in the right direction because an early loss could work against him. But he has been fairly quiet during this Tour so maybe his legs are still good.
Frank Schleck - Schleck has looked good for the entire Tour. His climbing has been very strong and his work on the road has been of equal standing. However, his time trial in Stage Four was average. In fact, he was 46th in line some 2.14 back. Evans was 1.35 up the road, a stat that won't be lost on Schleck's CSC team. He may not have a happy time during this Stage and might find himself off the podium.
Bernhard Kohl - The King of the Mountains winner has had a great Tour but will not be a factor in today's stage. Kohl can time trial well but he will not be in the same class as the big hitters. Kohl's team Gerolsteiner will be stoked with his efforts and they will be trying to lift their man Stefan Schumacher to his second time trial win of the Tour.
Other contenders
Frank Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, Stefan Schumacher and David Millar.
firstoffthebike.com's fearless predictions:
This will be the full emergence of Australian Cycling. Yes we are biased but Evans looks to have it all working. We would've been happier with only 60 seconds gap for Evans to make up but he is good enough to do this. Sastre has been brave and has not done a lot of work as he was the ace in the hole for Team CSC. Settel in to watch this amazing race unfold! Cadel Evans will put two minutes into Sastre and take the yellow jersey. Cancellara and Schumacher will fight out the stage. The GC after this stage will have Evans up top with Sastre and Schleck next in line. Go Cadel!
