A year after wearing the Maillot Jaune, double Tour runner-up Cadel Evans went close to grabbing the jersey again when his BMC Racing Team finished second in the day two team time trial at the Tour de France.
Evans, who showed his strong form in finishing second behind Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma Lotto) on Saturday’s opening stage, drove his team onwards in the 23 kilometre test. Clad in the green points jersey, he did much of the work, and this plus his spurring on of the other riders led to an unexpected runner-up slot.
The BMC Racing Team riders finished four seconds behind Garmin-Cervélo, and the Australian ended the day a mere one second behind the American team’s riders Thor Hushovd and David Millar.
That narrow difference is certain to bring mixed feelings. He lost out on the chance to take a stage win and the yellow jersey, two things that he will regret. On the other hand, he’s as close as possible to the top of the leaderboard without having to handle the responsibility and pressure of the Maillot Jaune; in ways, that’s also a good outcome.
“We've been quietly working away, doing our homework and keeping at it,” he said afterwards. “Our first goal was not to lose any time and our second goal was to actually gain time. The fact that we were actually there, nearly in the running for the win, was really something.
“Today, we lost early two strong riders- Micky and Burgie [Michael Schär and Marcus Burghardt] had some problems in the corners when HP Hincapie was starting to get us up to full speed. So, second was a nice surprise, a great start for our new TM01 TT bike, team morale and useful for the big picture – general classification. Special mention to Giorgio for his experience, leadership and strength, and also to sub-60kg 'Santino' for hanging on until the end...around 55km/h average speed in the wind, 77.2km/h max was pretty fast.”
The day was marked by an unexpected, unwelcome intervention from the UCI commissaires at the race. Shortly before the start, they insisted that every rider have a completely flat saddle. The provision is in the UCI rulebook but never usually enforced; riders often drop the nose of their saddle slightly so as not to compress sensitive areas when down in an aerodynamic position.
However, upon the commissaires’ insistence, those saddles were repositioned before the start. Evans blasted this thinking in his online diary, making it clear that he wasn’t impressed.
“Behind the scenes, the bike control was nearly ridiculous today with the French commissaries. Having ridden our same bikes/positions all year, then [we] come here and not be allowed to start unless you change them; a bit of unexpected stress before the start. I suppose it compares with speeding motorists; on an Italian freeway the police tolerate 20-30km/h over the limit. In Australia they tolerate 2-3km/h over the limit.
“Today it was out with the spirit level to check that everyone seats were 'horizontal' as the rules state. Check any seat with a scoop or channel in the back and that rule has a wide grey area of interpretation…a lot more than can be measured with a spirit level anyway. And the hard fast rule for cyclists' 'never change anything on race day', ha, bad luck if you want to stay in the Tour...”
Evans said that he normally sets up his bike as close as possible to the rules, knowing that there is a chance for commissaires to intervene. As a result he said that he had to only raise the nose of his saddle 2mm upwards. “Just a little more unhealthy and uncomfortable,” he noted.
With his team leader fractionally off yellow and many of the other contenders further back, directeur sportif John Lelangue said that he was pleased with the outcome. “In the end, it's always a nervous day. but at the end of the day we had a great result," he said. "We only missed the victory by a few seconds and the yellow jersey by a few seconds, but we are happy to be in this situation.”
Today’s third stage to Redon is flat and fast, and is expected to end in a bunch sprint. Thor Hushovd will aim to defend his yellow jersey. He’ll do likewise on tomorrow’s race to Mûr-de-Bretagne but, with the stage finishing atop a steep climb, there is a good opportunity for Evans to seize the Maillot Jaune.