Tour de France champion Cadel Evans has picked up his and the BMC Racing Team’s first win of the season, taking the 6.5 kilometre stage two time trial in the Criterium International. The Australian was pushed close, though, with compatriot Michael Rogers (Sky Procycling) finishing just 0.3 seconds back in the Porto Vecchio test.
1t4i rider Simon Geschke was third, one second back, with Anthony Roux (FDJ BigMat), Maxime Monfort (RadioShack Nissan), Marco Pinotti (BMC Racing Team), Dave Zabriskie (Garmin Barracuda) and Evans’ team-mate Brent Bookwalter all two seconds off the winning time.
Five-time race winner Jens Voigt (Leopard Trek) placed eighteenth, ten seconds adrift.
Stage one winner Florian Vachon (Bretagne Schuller) finished 22 seconds back, only placing 49th, and consequently yielded his yellow jersey to Evans. Last year’s race winner Frank Schleck (RadioShack Nissan) also lost the same amount of time, and faces a big battle tomorrow if he is to successfully defend his title.
Evans’ performance is a relief to the Australian after a somewhat muted performance in the recent Tirreno Adriatico.
“Things have taken awhile to come together this year," he said. "The old engine was taking a while to warm up. But it's a good sign of things to come. I wasn't as far behind as I thought. Now I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Tomorrow is where the race is won or lost."
He said that he always believed that things would come right, despite the tough Tirreno Adriatico he had. "I'm always training toward my major objective of the year – the Tour de France," he explained. "You go through ups and downs as you are building up to a big event. Things are coming around a little bit better now."
He will begin tomorrow’s final stage on the same time as Rogers, and one second up on Geschke. Monfort, Pinotti, Riblon and Bookwalter are just behind the German.
Monfort said after the stage that he was convinced that he has a good chance of winning the race outright.
“I was a little bit disappointed [with the time trial – ed.],” he said. “Yes, it was a good result for sure, so on one hand I was happy. But to be beaten by less than one second was hard to take in. In many ways I was happy to see Evans get a time better than two seconds [ahead]. It makes it easier to not win. I can live with that.
“On the other hand the finish tomorrow is a good one for me. I know the Cadel Evans we see here is not the Cadel Evans we will see in July so I really believe I can beat him. I believe in my chances. Plus along the way we have three intermediate sprints with time bonuses. That can be a big part of the stage tomorrow.”
The concluding stage will begin in Porto Vecchio and will scale four categorized climbs prior to the final ascent to the summit of the Col de l’Ospedale. In contrast to last year’s race, the climbing stage comes at the conclusion of the race, setting things up for a dramatic finale.
Evans’ participation in the race marks the first occasion he has competed on French soil since winning last year’s Tour. He’s once again in an ASO yellow jersey, and will battle to maintain his grip on the Maillot Jaune.
Assistant director Max Sciandri said the BMC Racing Team would give everything to help him in that goal. "We're going to do our very best to defend the lead, just as we did when Cadel was winning races last year like Tirreno-Adriatico, at Romandie and the Tour," he stated.