His form has been fluctuating this season, raising some concerns within his team and beyond; today is the first real moment of truth for Cadel Evans in this Giro d’Italia.
The Australian has been riding well thus far, and will know much about his chances for a strong overall finish after today’s 54.8 kilometre Saltara time trial.
“It's a really long and really hard and demanding time trial and we really don't have a point of reference of how I am time trialing compared to the other guys,” he said, admitting that he is unsure what to expect.
“I will first of all concentrate on doing my best and, of course if I continue to move up on the general classification, that's optimal.”
Evans finished sixth on yesterday’s tough stage to Pescara, reaching the line in the big chase group just over a minute behind Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol).
He completed the stage in the same time as GC contenders such as Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and defending champion Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin Sharp), and gained one minute 24 seconds on Bradley Wiggins (Sky), who was dropped in the finale and then further delayed in a crash.
The performance put him a fine sixth overall, sixteen seconds off the race lead held by Benat Intxausti (Movistar), and shows that he is in solid Grand Tour form.
He praised his team for helping him out in what were some very tough conditions, in terms of the parcours and also the terrain.
“It was a real test of our team and our equipment and the guys were really good,” he said after the stage. “Daniel Oss was good at the start, monitoring the dangerous breakaways, and Danilo Wyss, Steve Morabito and Steve Cummings were always there to keep me out of trouble. Then Santaromita was there in the final in case something went wrong.”
Those riders will continue to support him in the days ahead, particularly if the time trial goes well and he remains in contention for the overall win.