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Saturday, July 23, 2011

Cadel Evans Claims Tour de France


GRENOBLE, July 23, 2011 (AFP) - Cadel Evans is set to become the first Australian winner of the Tour de France after overcoming his overnight deficit to Andy Schleck in the penultimate stage time trial Saturday.

 

BMC leader Evans started the 42.5-km race against the clock with a 57 second deficit to Schleck in the overall standings but easily erased that on his way to second place behind stage winner Tony Martin of Germany.

 

It means Evans will go into Sunday's final stage, a 95-km run from Creteil to Paris—which is traditionally not disputed by the overall contenders—as the new race champion.

 

Evans, the runner-up in 2007 and 2008, will succeed Spain's three-time champion Alberto Contador who suffered a dramatic collapse in the penultimate stage Thursday to all but drop out of contention.

 

HTC-Highroad's specialist Martin, who had started his race earlier in the day when the course was still drying after a spell of rain, clocked a winning time of 55:33.

 

Evans finished only seven seconds behind in 55:40, while Schleck could only come over the finish line in 17th place in 58:11.

 

Heading into the final stage Sunday Evans, the 2009 world champion, holds a comfortable lead of 1:34 on Andy Schleck, while his older brother Frank Schleck will finish third overall at 2:30.

 

Stage Results

1.     MARTIN Tony HTC - HIGHROAD     55' 33"      
2.     EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM + 00' 07"
3.     CONTADOR Alberto SAXO BANK SUNGARD + 01' 06"
4.     DE GENDT Thomas VACANSOLEIL-DCM + 01' 29"
5.     PORTE Richie SAXO BANK SUNGARD + 01' 30"
6.     PERAUD Jean-Christophe AG2R LA MONDIALE + 01' 33"
7.     SANCHEZ Samuel EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 01' 37"
8.     CANCELLARA Fabian TEAM LEOPARD-TREK + 01' 42"
9.     VELITS Peter HTC - HIGHROAD + 02' 03"
10.   TAARAMAE Rein COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE + 02' 03"
11.   DANIELSON Tom TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO + 02' 08"
12.   HAGEN Edvald Boasson SKY PROCYCLING + 02' 10"
13.   VOECKLER Thomas TEAM EUROPCAR + 02' 14"
14.   MONFORT Maxime TEAM LEOPARD-TREK + 02' 36"
15.   KOREN Kristjan LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE + 02' 36"
16.   MALORI Adriano LAMPRE - ISD + 02' 38"
17.   SCHLECK Andy TEAM LEOPARD-TREK + 02' 38"
18.   WESTRA Lieuwe VACANSOLEIL-DCM + 02' 39"
19.   RIBLON Christophe AG2R LA MONDIALE + 02' 39"
20.   SCHLECK Frank TEAM LEOPARD-TREK + 02' 41"

 

Overall Standings

1.     EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM     83h 45' 20"      
2.     SCHLECK Andy TEAM LEOPARD-TREK + 01' 34"
3.     SCHLECK Frank TEAM LEOPARD-TREK + 02' 30"
4.     VOECKLER Thomas TEAM EUROPCAR + 03' 20"
5.     CONTADOR Alberto SAXO BANK SUNGARD + 03' 57"
6.     SANCHEZ Samuel EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 04' 55"
7.     CUNEGO Damiano LAMPRE - ISD + 06' 05"
8.     BASSO Ivan LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE + 07' 23"
9.     DANIELSON Tom TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO + 08' 15"
10.   PERAUD Jean-Christophe AG2R LA MONDIALE + 10' 11"

Via: Bicycling Magazine

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