Evans wonders if Wiggins can win Tour

Cadel Evans has questioned whether Tour de France leader Brad Wiggins can maintain his domination.

Wiggins took control of the Tour on Monday when he put a minute and 43 seconds into Evans in the stage-nine time trial.

The British star now has a 1:53 lead over the defending champion heading into the crucial mountain stages ahead of the finish on July 22 .

But Evans has pointed to Wiggins’ performances in past three-week Grand Tours, where he has suffered bad days.

Asked if Wiggins might be vulnerable, Evans replied: “You hope so, you need some optimism.

“If I was going to convince myself now he was unbeatable and unstoppable, well I might as well decide on second.

“He doesn’t have much of a history over three weeks compared to someone like me.

“Most of the other riders in the first 10 (overall), we’ve seen them more at their limits, have more three-week Tours to judge them by.”

Evans looked calm and relaxed at his rest-day media conference on Tuesday, playing with his toddler son Robel.

He said his race preparations had gone well, his teammates are in good form and he remains confident.

“My performance in the time trial, of course I always want to be closer to the best guys,” Evans said.

“It’s always better to be winning in this line of work.

“But things are going on track, we’re sitting here second, but most of all I have a great group of people around me to help me deal with all the challenges that winning the Tour de France has to throw at you.”