46 favourites ’09 Last year he was number one. working on a dream that began when he first realised that riding a bike for a job was possible.was job a bikefor a realisedfirstridingthat he when began thatdream a workingon letour .com next year. It was a life change.” change.” alife was It year. next well. abike ride could Cadel fact: simple one from grew that progression of a natural part 95th Tour. last of the the was It part be not would who a rival against miss anear was him Behind characteristics. his to suited may Australian the what about no longer was It work. of hard years event. the for of favourite title the held he that was consensus the as year previous the from runner-up the for appropriate was This race. the in start fourth his for defending champion, he would wear the number-one number-one the wear would he champion, defending of the absence the In come. had time 31, At his scenario. dream a was It Brest. in Tour France de 2008 of the start at the arrived A ll “In 1991, I got my first mountain bike. I started racing the the racing I started bike. mountain my 1991, first I got “In of 15 culmination the moment, defining the be to was This

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’09 47 favourites The last two years I came close but a few things went wrong and I didn’t win it. In 2008 I was the favourite because I was the highest ranked rider from the year before who was at the start.… this brings pressure but I was ready – I was fit, healthy, had good support – and had a few things not gone wrong, it could have all been different. favourites “ the new NOAH 10

The fastest bike in the world

>> In Brest at the start of July 2008, Evans was at the centre A year earlier he had been part of a squad that still divided of the cycling universe. He was content, fit and ready; keen for its forces. Silence-Lotto was one part McEwen, one part Evans. the race to begin. Hypothesizing on possible outcomes irritates In London, at the start of the 2007 Tour, the two Australians him. There is only one way to know what will happen in a bike were presented as the protected riders in the Belgian team. It team tactics Belgian style… race: start it, experience it, watch what unfolds and then you made sense. Robbie McEwen was a winning machine, a rider “Expect to see something different have the answer. The end result tells the story. “I don’t have a who acted as insurance for the sponsor. If wins were on the when we defend the jersey.” Evans knew it would be difficult to hold crystal ball.” That was a favourite line during the lead-up. wane, line Robbie up and watch him go. In the shadows until onto a small advantage in the After the race had begun, another one-liner emerged. It had the dying metres, he would cross the line first. but Silence- to satisfy the sound-grab hunters for a week: “So far, so good.” Collective sighs from directeurs sportif, management and Lotto was prepared to try some unorthodox methods to keep him That was his chorus as the Tour raced east from France’s sponsors alike prevailed during the years McEwen was at the in the maillot jaune. During stage extreme west. In cold, windy and sometimes wet conditions, myriad incarnations of the …-Lotto team. When all looked dire 11, his first leading GC, the Belgian the peloton aimed towards the Pyrenees. With the number the sprinter would deliver a reason to celebrate. But in 2007, a squad essentially blocked the road on the Col de Portel (above). one stuck on his back, there was pressure, expectation and year when another option was being explored, the unthinkable When CSC took command of the attention. And a coil in the calm unit that was presented happened: Robbie abandoned. Yes, of course, he won a stage. race, Cadel had to cover any moves at the Grand Départ started to wind up. When pushed for He did that in emphatic style in Canterbury, winning the race by his rivals. The problem was that he had three men to consider: the commentary, however, he maintained his cool and regularly from the British capital. Afterwards the Tour entourage was two Schlecks and Sastre. repeated his mantra to the media. “So far, so good.” ferried back to the Continent from a nearby port. The focus would switch from the green to the yellow jersey in a serendipitous sequence. The day Robbie finally surrendered – the only time the Queenslander quit the Tour – also happened to be the day Cadel was first told he had the yellow jersey. It would prove to be an administrative error but at the ski station of Tignes where the peloton had arrived after an epic stage, Evans received news that caused a flutter. His normally stoic demeanour suffered a surge of adrenaline when it was whispered, “You’re in the yellow jersey.” A moment to catch his breath was all it took before a subsequent statement was issued: “Oh, sorry. It’s a mistake with the timing. You’re actually sixth. Pardon. Désolé.” The winner in Tigne, Michael Rasmussen, had also taken the overall lead. He was destined to be the winner in Paris too. But he lied. The race would progress around France, from north to south, the Alps to the Pyrenees. Evans went on to win a stage but he wouldn’t realise it on the day. In Albi, in a time trial on a day of changing conditions – drenching wet at the start, sunshine by late afternoon – he was the fastest clean rider in the Tour. >>

48 ’09 letour.com Going into the Tour I always try to be a little bit more prudent… because everyone is watching and everyone has an opinion and everyone has questions. favourites

place on the penultimate day of that year’s race. It would have “translated to a gain of 32 seconds. But it didn’t happen and it doesn’t change anything. He lost the Tour by 23 seconds. And that’s how it will always be.

“Nothing is sure in life,” Evans said when reminded of the circumstances he faced at the start of the 2008 Tour de France. Ideally placed to win the race, he would falter. The mantra repetition would stop after he crashed in a non-descript town in stage nine, sustaining injuries that would limit his capacity for over half of the race. A stupid incident caused by Gorka Verdugo – a Basque name with a literal translation of ‘Gorka, the executioner’ – ended his four-word rap. Until then, it was so good. He’d stayed out of trouble. Escaping injury and incident, he was poised to strike in the Pyrenees but instead he arrived in Bagnère-de-Bigorre battered and bruised. His jersey smeared in blood, a shattered helmet was handed to a journalist with three words – “Here’s your interview” – before the rider departed to tend to his wounds. So ended stage nine. A day later the conclusion evoked an entirely different set of emotions. Instead of racing through a valley in a car driven by his faithful bodyguard Serge Borlée, in search of a hospital, Evans was transported down from the lofty heights of in a helicopter. One day he was being stopped by gendarmes because of a speeding violation by Borlée – and subsequently offered official assistance by the French police to ensure prompt arrival at a medical clinic – the next he was being ushered to the podium protocol. In Bagnères-de-Bigorre he was sore. At Hautacam he was in the maillot jaune. A helicopter delivered him to Pau in a yellow glow that would last for at least the rest day. His advantage over the rider in second place, Fränk Schleck, was just one lousy second but Evans had officially escaped the ‘Poulidor’ label. Other riders have come close to winning the Tour before. But only one has reached Paris – at the end of this torturous three-week affair – with a deficit less than what Evans, the runner-up in 2007, had to the winner. “I know where I lost it,” he declared before recounting a moment of hesitation by allies of Vinokourov and Contador during a chase to Loudenvielle in stage 15. A year later the downfall came on the road between Bourg d’Oisans and L’Alpe d’Huez. The first time the tension caused by the 23 seconds lost during the course of the 3,570km race in 2007 abated was Falling out of yellow… Stage 15 >> In the mountains a liar triumphed and while racing the when Cadel truly emerged as a leader. At Hautacam, despite of the 2008 Tour was a triumphant clock a cheat trumped Evans. But both Rasmussen and the pain that prompted him to lash out at a few inconsiderate day for Simon Gerrans who claimed the win in Prato Nevoso in Italy Alexandre Vinokourov would go on to lose a lot more than people who insisted on slapping him on the shoulder he’d but the overall leader slipped down they gained from their deceptions. Although he’d inadvertently injured only a day earlier, he eclipsed M. … the rankings. Evans finished 13th been told he would take the yellow jersey and had won a stage, at least in one respect. The Frenchman is the rider whose name at the top of the mountain and dropped down to third overall. Two Evans was not presented on the podium at the 2007 Tour de is synonymous with the notion of perennial runner-up. In climbing specialists, Fränk Schleck France until he stepped up to the runner-up’s rung in Paris. French culture at least. Poulidor finished second in the Tour and a cheating , Massive Attack can be paraphrased to sum up how Evans three times (and third on five occasions). Throughout his moved ahead of him in general classification but only eight seconds found out he won his TT stage: ‘He got a letter from the distinguished career, one that stands him in good stead years lay between him and first place. governing body the other day… opened it up and read it. Said after his racing days as an ambassador for the sport, Poulidor The real damage was done by they were suckers.’ In Vino no veritas. The Kazakh warrior never wore the yellow jersey. two stages later when he won at Alpe d’Huez and moved up had not achieved his conquest in truth. ‘Vino’ had propelled Cadel achieved what Raymond could not: he led the Tour. from fifth to first overall. himself to a time trial victory with the assistance of someone So far, he could have said, so good. But there were still 10 else’s blood. And he would be exposed. Evans, the runner-up stages to go. By the time the opportunity had arrived for him in Albi, would later be informed that he was actually meant to don the jersey of the race leader, he was sore, distracted and to stand on the dais after the 13th stage. Cadel wasn’t 1’14” minor details such as the official podium protocol were not slower than the man who did, he was actually the winner. foremost in his mind. “Oops, I forgot to shake hands with all But no time bonus applied. Imagine if this had been the the VIPs,” he wrote in an SMS. case, as it was for non-time trial stages in 2007. The winner He would get other chances to greet race director Christian would have earned 20 more seconds, that’s how it was for Prudhomme, five-time winner and the other all but the prologue, 13th and 19th stages of the 94th Tour. dignitaries who wait in the wings – including Poulidor himself There’s the opportunity here to dream up hypotheticals: if time who is now on Tour as a representative of LCL, the yellow jersey trials had also earned bonuses, Evans would have (retrospec- sponsor – in the giant inflatable structure that emerges on a daily tively) gained 20 seconds in Albi and 12 seconds for his second basis at the site of stage finishes. >>

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