Slipping back to 28th overall, 26 seconds behind the new race leader Simon Gerrans and dropping 23 seconds to Tour de France rival Chris Froome, Cadel Evans is clear that his BMC Racing Team didn’t do enough in yesterday’s team time trial.
The American squad looked good on the course but simply didn’t have the horsepower of some of the other teams, finishing in ninth place.
“We weren't fast enough,” said Evans, giving his frank assessment of the performance. “Losing a lot of seconds isn't something you want to hope for today and it isn't what I expected. But we'll have to go back over the analysis and have a look why.”
Evans’ disappointment will be partly influenced by the contrast with the team’s performance in the test in 2011, when it finished a very close second to the winners Garmin-Sharp. Evans went on to wear yellow in Paris, and hopes to do so again this year.
However with rivals such as Chris Froome, Richie Porte and Alberto Contador all appearing to be in form and dangerous, the Australian knows that he can’t hand away time to them and others.
Team directeur sportif John Lelangue was also dissatisfied with the outcome, but says that much racing lies ahead.
“We wanted to make a top five result and to lose a little less time on the big leaders for the general classification,” the Belgian stated. “So it was a little bit of disappointment with all the work we have done. We know that this can happen on such a fast parcours, even if it is such a short distance.
“At least we are still there and we know it is a long way to go to Paris. The mountains are only coming at the end of the week and we have two more individual time trials: a really fast one around Mont Saint-Michel and a technical one in Embrun.”
Evans’ American team-mate and fellow GC contender Tejay van Garderen is also 26 seconds back, sitting in thirtieth place overall.