Australian Cadel Evans wins the Tour de France

From downunder to the Top of the pack

By Hayley Montroy

PARIS(Hollywood Today)7/24/11/—Cadel Evans won this year’s edition of the 108-year-old Tour de France on Sunday, becoming the first Australian victor of cycling’s most renowned race. The two-time runner-up claimed the yellow jersey on Saturday after overtaking Andy Schleck of Luxembourg in the time trial near Grenoble, France.  His victory capped one of the most dramatic races in years and was tense all the way and was done without a serious doping blight that marred past Tours.

The real drama took place on Saturday as Sunday’s ceremonial finish along the Champs-Elysees in Paris merely provided the Champagne toasting among the riders and the new champion.  Evans, a two-time runner-up, took the overall lead by overcoming a 57-second deficit to Andy Schleck of Luxembourg in the time trial.

A red-eyed Evans choked up on the victory podium, holding back tears before hurling the winner’s bouquet into the crowd.  “I really can’t quite believe it right now,” the 34-year-old Aussie said. “I have been concentrating on this event for so long.”

The victory for Evans, the BMC team leader, culminated a stellar and methodical three weeks of riding. Unlike defending champion Alberto Contador and other main contenders, Evans was spared crashes.  His only real problem was mechanical trouble Friday, but he recovered without any lost time.

Evans won the Tour without having won a stage; however, his triumph attests to his diligent preparation as he eyed a title he has narrowly missed for years.  Evans’ psychological toughness had been questioned, but he showed a veteran’s skill and savvy to take cycling’s greatest prize.  Evans had been regarded as a perennial underachiever until he became a world champion two years ago.  And, he enjoyed a solid build-up to the Tour, racing less than usual so he would peak at the right moment.

The parallels between Andy Schleck and Evans are considerable.  Both are two-time runners-up and both have been second to Contador with Evans doing it once and Schleck doing it twice.  And, both also know what it’s like to just miss out on victory.  Evans was second to Contador by 23 seconds in 2007 while Schleck was 39 seconds behind the Spaniard last year, which were two of the closest finishes in race history.

As second and third overall, Andy and Frank Schleck were the first brothers in history to share the Tour’s championship podium on the Champs-Elysees and they embraced one another in defeat afterwards.  Andy finished 1:34 behind the winner, while Frank was 2:30 back.  Ten-stage leader of this year’s 21-stage event, Thomas Voeckler, finished fourth, 3:20 back of Evans and Alberto Contador finished fifth, 3:57 behind.

Any cyclist hoping to win the Tour de France sure seems to benefit from having American rider George Hincapie on his team.  With Cadel Evans’ victory, Hincapie has now been on nine winning teams.  He helped Lance Armstrong to all seven of his victories, and he was on Alberto Contador’s team when the Spaniard won the first of his three Tours in 2007.

The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than 3,600 kilometres (2,200 mi) and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling’s three “Grand Tours”, the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages. Individual times to finish each stage are aggregated to determine the overall winner at the end of the race. The rider with the lowest aggregate time at the end of each day wears a yellow jersey.^[1] The course changes every year, but the race has always finished in Paris. Since 1975, the climax of the final stage has been along the Champs-Élysées.