Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) has finally won the Tour de France with a supreme performance against the clock over the 42.5km penultimate stage time trial in Grenoble. The Australian finished second on the stage, just seven seconds slower than the 55’33” of Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad), who also won the Critérium du Dauphiné stage over the same course. More importantly though, he finished more than two minutes faster than Fränk and Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek), who were the only two riders ahead of him in the overall classification.
"I felt very good at the start of the race,” said Martin after his stage victory. “I quickly found my rhythm, and I managed to climb fast enough all the hills and get up to a good speed on the downhills.
“I was very nervous when I looked at the time of Cadel Evans because, at the beginning, I had a good lead but then he got closer and closer and was just seven seconds behind,” he explained. “So, in the last kilometre, I wondered if he would do better than me; it was very stressful.
“Winning a stage on the Tour de France is my goal for a long time. So it’s a great day for me."
Starting the day 57 seconds behind Andy Schleck, and 4 seconds behind Fränk, Evans needed to take more than a second per kilometre out of both riders to take the yellow jersey. He surpassed this though, overtaking both riders in the virtual standings before the stage was even half over.
“I can’t quite believe it all quite now,” said Evans afterwards. “My thanks go to everyone who played a part in today; we’re talking 20 years of work has been put into this performance.
“There has been a lot of great work put in by people behind me; some are still with us and some are not any more,” he continued, referring to his late coach and mentor Aldo Sassi. “But I hope the sun is shining tomorrow on the Champs-Elysées and we to the finish without any problems.
“A lot of people like to criticize but they should try and do it,” he added.
Evans was 36 seconds faster than Andy Schleck after 15km, 1’42” faster after 27.5km, 2’10” after 37.5km and then 2’31” faster at the finish. Tomorrow afternoon in Paris he will become the first Australian to win the Tour, 1’34” ahead of Andy Schleck, and 2’30” ahead of Fränk.
After the Pyrénées and the Alps the race comes down to 42.5km against the clock
The 42.5km stage, starting and finishing in the city of Grenoble, would follow an undulating, but relatively flat course, and was identical to the one used in the Criteirum du Dauphiné in June. Martin was the favourite, having won that Dauphiné stage, in a time of 55’27”, but as usual there would be a number of riders expected to do well, including World time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek).
As usual, with a time trial at the is stage of the race though, there would be two races; one for the stage, between the time trial specialists, and one between the overall classification riders for positions on the podium and the final yellow jersey.
Despite them riding for the same team, the decision was taken by the race commissaires to allow the Schleck brothers to ride one after the other. Fränk would be three minutes ahead of Andy though, and so they shouldn’t see each other until after they’d both crossed the finish line.
The other jersey battle on the stage would be between Alpe d’Huez winner Pierre Rolland (Europcar) and Estonian time trial champion Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) for the white jersey. After Rolland’s victory Taaramäe needed to take 1’33” out of the Frenchman to take back the young rider classification that he lost on the Alpe.
The Lanterne Rouge intends to stay that way as Danny Pate starts third and finishes first
Lanterne rouge Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas-Cannondale) was the first rider off at 10’26” in the morning, almost six hours before yellow jersey Andy Schleck was due to start. The Italian was clearly intent in holding on to his lucrative position at the bottom of the standings, posting a none-too-inspiring 1hr 03’44”.
The third man off though, was Danny Pate (HTC-Highroad). The American, who had spent so many kilometres on the front of the peloton pulling back breakaways for sprinter Mark Cavendish, caught both of the riders who started in front of him – Sabatini and Andrey Amador (Movistar) – to finish the stage first.
Pate’s time of 59’04” was to hold out for almost an hour, until Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) went 49 seconds quicker in 58’13”.
An obvious favourite for the stage was Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek), who has won the corresponding stage on two previous occasions. The four-time World time trial champion, who rode with both Schleck brothers in the car behind him, took nearly a minute out of Westra’s time, to lower the mark to 57’16”.
Although this was by far the best time so far, it was still a minute and three quarters slower than the time that Martin posted on the course back in June.
Cancellara is beatable but it looks like Martin is not
With Cancellara’s looking less than his usual unbeatable self, it was no surprise that Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-SunGard), riding an hour and a half later than the Swiss rider, knocked twelve seconds off his time with 57’04”. The Australian was not to be in the hot seat for long though, as, nine riders later Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM) posted 57’02”.
There was drama for Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) in the mid part of the course. The double stage winner had gone three seconds faster than De Gendt at the 15km checkpoint, he endured a succession of technical problems that caused him to make a bike change. Despite all of his problems, the Norwegian still managed 57’44”.
Martin was out on the course by now though, and putting in an almost identical performance to his Dauphiné ride. The former German time trial champion, who has so often found himself the bridesmaid to Cancellara, went 25 seconds quicker than Boasson Hagen at 15km, and continued to accelerate. By the 27.5km checkpoint Martin was 38 seconds ahead of De Gendt, 1’06” clear of the Belgian after 37.5km, and finished 1’29” faster; lowering the best time to 55’33”.
Despite almost crashing into a Sky team car as he was catching Xabier Zandio the German “Panzerwagen” was just six seconds outside the time he rode in June.
There was further drama out on the course as Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) threw his chain off while out of the saddle, and almost crashed as both feet unclipped from his pedals and he landed heavily on his top tube. Luckily the Belgian road champion’s bike handling skills didn’t let him down though, and he continued, a little sore, to post 1hr 00’52”.
The day's result seems settled but the overall race is on
With the stage seemingly decided, all that remained was the small matter of settling the race overall. The first of the potential podium finishers to start was Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-SunGard), who started the day in but, with his time trialling prowess, had his sights set on the fifth place of Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD), and possibly even the fourth place of Thomas Voeckler (Europcar).
A nervous looking Contador tried to go a fraction early, before the commissaire had let go of his saddle. He wobbled, then had to put one foot down to avoid falling over, before setting off down the ramp.
Voeckler was roared off by the crowd but, leading Contador by just 1’45”, he needed to do the ride of his life to hold on to his fourth place. He also held out the slim hope of hauling back Fränk Schleck, who usually suffers against the clock, to become the first Frenchman to finish on the Tour podium since 1997.
Evans rolled down the ramp very cool, Fränk Schleck was looking composed, while Andy Schleck – dressed in a yellow skinsuit, yellow gloves and yellow shoe covers – was looking very nervous indeed as he took the start.
Contador, seemingly recovered from his jour sans on the Galibier on stage eighteen, was in second place as he passed the first checkpoint, just 21 seconds slower than Martin. Cunego though, was having one of his usual time trial nightmares though and was already 55 seconds behind Contador; after just 15 seconds the 2004 Giro d’Italia winner had lost his fifth place to the 2008 and 2001 winner.
Voeckler loses ground as Evans flies
Voeckler passed the checkpoint 36 seconds behind Contador, seemingly about to lose his position in the standings to the Spanish rider too.
Evans matched Contador exactly at the first check, with a time of 20’33”. It was the riders to come after him that the Australian was interested in though, with only the Schleck brothers to come.
To what would have been the Australian’s delight, Fränk Schleck went through in 21’07”, slipping behind Evans in the classification, and Andy was even slower with 21’09”.
With little more than one third of the stage out of the way, Evans had already taken 36 of the 57 seconds he needed for yellow. As the top two riders continued, the GPS tracking system continued to show their relative positions overall, based on their places on the road. Evans passed Andy Schleck in virtual time before they even reached the second time check.
Having lost his white jersey on the road to Alpe d’Huez, Taaramäe was determined to take it back. Dressed in the flag of his country, as the time trial champion of Estonia, he posted a finishing time 57’37”, just 2’03” behind Martin.
Jean-Christophe Péraud (AG2R La Mondiale) was the next rider to finish and, with his time of 57’06”, the former national time trial champion staked his claim to be the best Frenchman on the stage. The following rider was Rolland, in the white jersey; his time of 58’23” was slower than Taaramäe’s, but not enough for the Estonian to take his jersey.
Contador is slowing but the Schlecks are locked together and floundering
At the second checkpoint Contador had slowed slightly, but was still almost a minute quicker than Voeckler. He was to fade further at the third check, and was just 55 seconds ahead of the Frenchman after 37.5km, far short of the 1’45” he needed to overtake him in the standings.
Evans, conversely, was getting quicker and quicker. His 27.5km time of 40’33 was just seven seconds slower than Martin but, more importantly, 1’42” faster than Andy Schleck. With 15km to go, he led the race by 45 seconds.
The Schleck brothers seemed locked together on time, as if they were linked by a 2.5km long rope. Fränk posted 42’16” at 27.5km, to Andy’s 42’15”; at 37.5km Fränk was on 52’-6 and Andy was on 52’05”.
This was becoming irrelevant though, as Evans had flown through that third checkpoint in 49’55”, 2’21” and 2’20” faster than the Schlecks.
Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) might have held designs on taking seventh place overall from Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), who was just eighteen seconds ahead of him at the start. His less than impressive 59’20” was nowhere near enough though, as Sanchez, dressed in polka-dots finished in 57’10”.
Cunego, despite putting in a usual lacklustre performance, still managed to beat Basso, with 59’11”.
Voeckler holds fourth as Evans wins the Tour
Contador had slowed even further in the final kilometres of the stage, finishing in 56’39”, whereas Voeckler had sustained his pace and posted 57’47”. While he was on course to beat both Schleck brothers, it would not be enough to put the Frenchman on the podium.
Finally, Evans seemed to be fading slightly as he turned into the finishing straight. Having been just two seconds slower than Martin with 5km to go, the Australian crossed the line in 55’40”, seven seconds behind but easily good enough for second on the stage.
It was five and a half minutes before Fränk Schleck crossed the line, in 58’14”, while Andy was almost exactly three minutes behind him in 58’11”.
Barring disaster on the final stage to Paris, Evans will become the first Australian to win the Tour de France, 1’34” ahead of Andy Schleck, and 2’30” ahead of Fränk.
The Luxembourg brothers will both stand on the final podium, but neither have made the top step; Andy will finish second for the third straight year.