Is the dream over for Cadel?
Roar Guru By vitalyg, 13 Jul 2012 vitalyg is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans, Cycling, Team Sky racing, Tour de France
Cadel Evans second in the Giro - is another big year in store for him?
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It was nice to keep the dream alive and to hope and to cheer. But unfortunately the time has come to face the music in this 2012 Tour de France: the Cadel Evans of 2011 is not enough to compete with Bradley Wiggins and Sky.
The early attack, spring-boarded by Tejay Van Garderen, was easily reeled in by Sky, who just kept riding tempo until Evans and Van Garderen were brought back. We thought Evans would attack on the descent, but he didn’t.
I waited patiently for him to make the move on the last climb of the day, La Toussuire, but all he could do was hang on.
Nibali was the protagonist of the day, with repeated attacks on the yellow jersey that forced Sky to burn through Porte perhaps sooner than they would have liked and resulted in Evans losing close to 1.5 minutes. At the end of the day, Froome and Nibali leapfrogged over Evans and are now in second and third, respectively, on GC.
Evans can still time trial better than Nibali, so podium is not out of sight for the Australian, but the yellow jersey might as well be miles and miles away. He needs to go into the final time trial on stage 19 with a two minute buffer on Wiggins. This means in the next seven stages he needs go gain over five minutes on the Brit – today he has shown that he’s not able to do that.
Maybe next year, Cadel, maybe next year. But it seems you won’t be the first one to the Champs-Élysées.
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The Crowd Says (6) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans, Cycling, Team Sky racing, Tour de France
July 13th 2012 @ 9:09am
Tom Callaghan said | July 13th 2012 @ 9:09am | Report comment
Yes. It seems to be all downhill for Evans(career) now. He appears to have a mountain to climb if he is challenge the British riders who fill the first two places in theb GC. Perhaps, though,Cuddles is over the hill?
July 13th 2012 @ 10:26am
Big Steve said | July 13th 2012 @ 10:26am | Report comment
Cadel was the oldest person ever to win the tour last year. So you would think he will struggle to win another one.
Cadel and wiggins are too simular for evans to get any time out of him. Good on the TT, and stong in the mountains without bieng dynamic. When you ride the same style, the stronger rider has to win, especially with the stronger team.
The investment and preperation from Sky in winning this tour is really paying off. Its a shame Andy Schelck isnt here cause he is a rider who could take 5 mins off sky in a mountain finish and he may have been able to force team sky out of their comfort zone.
July 13th 2012 @ 10:42am
Andrew said | July 13th 2012 @ 10:42am | Report comment
Firmin Lambot was about 2 years older than Evans when he won in 1922. I think one or two winners since have also been older than Evans.
July 13th 2012 @ 11:03am
tonysalerno said | July 13th 2012 @ 11:03am | Report comment
I know it’s hindsight because you wrong your article yesterday- but Evan’s dreams of back-to back Tour de France titles is over. He fell to 4th in the standings and 3:13 behind leader Bradley Wiggins of Sky racing
July 13th 2012 @ 11:14am
Tim Renowden said | July 13th 2012 @ 11:14am | Report comment
Yeah, Cadel will fight all the way, and might still make the podium, but he’s done and dusted for the win. Never mind, two seconds (so far) and a win is an amazing achievement.
I wonder how different this would’ve been if an in-form Andy Schleck and Contador had been present.
July 13th 2012 @ 11:07pm
DanMan said | July 13th 2012 @ 11:07pm | Report comment
It would have been totally different – here’s why: Contador’s and Andy’s team would have been dedicated for them only (minus cancellara). There would be 3 climbing teams changing the pace up the climbs. More decoy attacks. More explosive attacks by the leaders. Notice a fairly strong contingent of Radioshack towards the end of the climbs -they have the domestiques, just no leader (Frank is not in Andy’s league IMO). Saxobank would have a different team for Contador. This would mean Cadel is not so marked as he is atm. So No dominant Sky = Isolated Wiggins -and from last nights performance when Isolated he looks susceptable. Next year fellas . . .