Cadel Evans lost out on a possible Vuelta a España victory due to a puncture and poor wheel change, but Australian team-mate Stuart O’Grady believes that he has a chance of winning cycling’s world championship tomorrow. However he said that everything will need to go just right.
''Cadel has shown the form for sure, but he raced hard in the Vuelta and went pretty deep in the Tour [de France] as well,'' O'Grady told the Sydney Morning Herald. ''In the Vuelta, he really chased hard, rode to the death and got a fantastic result. But Cadel is a pretty tough character.
''I know his home is not far from the start-finish line. He knows all the roads, and has been pretty motivated. I expect him to be right there, but to win he will have to pull out the ride of his life.''
According to the former Paris-Roubaix victor, one concern is that those who went all the way to Madrid might not have recovered in time.
“I think that most of the guys who finished the Vuelta - especially this year as it was a real hard race – might not be able to recover in a week. Most of the guys on the [world title] podium would have done 14 to 16 stages and pulled out to get a little bit of extra time to recover and do more finetuning on their training, rather than finishing absolutely knackered and then trying to impress.''
The Australian team will have nine riders, as will other rivals such as Spain and Italy. Evans and O’Grady will be joined by triple Grand Tour stage winner Simon Gerrans, Allan Davis, Simon Clarke, Matthew Hayman, Matt Lloyd, Michael Rogers and Wesley Sulzberger. The tactics will be to ensure that Evans and possibly Gerrans are delivered to the final laps in the best possible condition.