Van Garderen holds white jersey and shows more signs he could be a future Tour contender
Defending Tour de France champion Cadel Evans had a tough day on yesterday’s 11th stage of the race, being unable to maintain a gap over race leader Bradley Wiggins (Sky) created mid-stage with Tejay van Garderen, then later losing time, but he is refusing to believe his Tour chances are over.
He placed eleventh, two minutes 23 behind stage winner Pierre Rolland (Europcar) and lost one minute 30 to Chris Froome (Sky Procycling). Wiggins, Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas Cannondale) gained one minute 28 on him.
As a result the Australian slipped from second to fourth overall, and has three minutes 19 seconds to make up on the Maillot Jaune.
Evans had little to say to the press afterwards, but later wrote about the stage on his blog. “Tough old day,” he admitted. “Mountains all day - possibly a chance for an early attack to work, and a solid pace from start to finish made for probably the most physically demanding day of this year's race so far.
“We had a good early move going on the second climb the Col du Fer, with Amaël, Tejay and myself slipping away, but I was not having my best day, so while it may have caused havoc behind, it was not a move to make any difference for the main GC contenders.”
Already trailing Wiggins, Evans needed to try to make up time on the summit finish to La Toussuire. Instead, he weakened and slipped backwards. “On the last climb, I lost a very disappointing amount of time to my main rivals. [It’s] not something that pleases me in any way,” he said, before promising to fight on. “We continue on the same though, we still have a lot more racing to go. Certainly being over three minutes down is long way from optimal [but] it's far from over yet.”
Van Garderen was stronger than his captain yesterday but he waited for him, as his supporting role requires. “It was a tough day,” he conceded. “I hoped Cadel's legs would be better, especially since Sky was put under so much pressure throughout the day. This was the first time we saw Wiggins isolated. If we can do that again on the next mountain stage and Cadel's legs come around, anything is possible.
“Cadel is mentally tough so he's not going to let this day get him down. He's going to keep fighting. If Sky continues on a decline with their strength in numbers and Cadel shakes off today and has a better day in the coming days, we can get the time back.”
Van Garderen is now seventh overall in the general classification and remains in the lead in the best young rider classification. His display yesterday will further speculation that in another couple of years that he could contend for the overall title in the race. He is one minute 54 seconds ahead of Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-Big Mat) in that white jersey contest.