Defending Tour de France champion Cadel Evans sought to gain time today on race leader Bradley Wiggins, knowing that he has to reduce his one minute 53 second deficit to the Maillot Jaune, but ultimately wasn’t able to do so. However with tomorrow’s stage to La Toussuire being much harder, he said that he will keep trying to crack Sky’s control on the race.
“You have to make opportunities for yourself,” the BMC Racing Team rider said after the stage. “Tomorrow, I think the attacking riders will be more rewarded. But we'll have to see how the other teams react to the race.”
One of those who Evans could try to combine with is Liquigas-Cannondale team leader Vincenzo Nibali. He slipped clear on the descent of the Grand Colombier today and opened up a minute’s lead with the help of his team-mate Peter Sagan, who had been in the day’s break.
However the plucky move was hauled back on the day’s final climb, the Col de Richemond, with the combined strength of the Sky riders proving too much.
Reflecting on the break, Evans was left wondering if he should have joined forces with the Italian. “He went away and I was a little bit hesitant,” he admitted. “Maybe it was a missed opportunity or something.” However he said that he wasn’t sure if the move would have worked anyway. “Sky really has the team for this course and this situation, so it leaves the opportunities few and far between. And with the wind and the climb that far from the finish, it was a bit difficult today.”
Evans fought hard on the drag up the line to eke out a gap but Wiggins worked his way up to his back wheel and remained glued there. It means that the Australian still needs to find a way to gain back some time; tomorrow’s tougher stage could give him a possible platform if he is feeling strong.
Van Garderen under pressure but defends white jersey:
Evans’ American team-mate Tejay van Garderen had a tougher day than the BMC Racing team leader, as he was left fighting to limit his losses after getting into difficulty on the final categorised climb. He plunged down the descent and managed to latch back on to the group, but slipped back again in the tough finale.
"It was just a tough day," he said after the finish. "I was struggling out there. I got dropped on the last climb of the day and had to fight back on the descent to make sure I could be there to shelter him (Evans) a little bit more at the end.”
He dropped 17 seconds to that group on the finishing ramp and, as a result, slipped from eighth to tenth place overall.
However his efforts were enough to retain the white jersey; he will begin tomorrow’s stage with a 25 second lead over Rein Taaramae (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne).