TOUR DE FRANCE:THE 2008 Tour de France took a chance on la bella figura, and look what happened. After winning two stages, the young, skinny, fast-talking Riccardo Ricco was thrown out following a positive EPO test.
Now the organisers face the prospect of handing the yellow jersey in Paris on Sunday afternoon to Cadel Evans, possibly the least superficially engaging Australian sportsman since Bill Lawry, a Test opener so passive that he gave a fuller meaning to the expression "playing a dead bat".
The 31-year-old from the Northern Territory is a loner who makes little effort to court popularity at any level. Earlier this year he set up a training camp in Spain's Sierra Nevada, with only two occupants: himself and his loyal Belgian soigneur.
He races according to a set of precise calculations, and tries to leave nothing to chance. And, worst of all, he never attacks.
Most cycling fans take a romantic view of the sport. They will gladly give their unconditional love to a loser as long as he goes down with his pedals on fire.
A man like Evans, who sucks the wheels of more adventurous rivals as he safeguards his position day after day - taking the initiative only in the solo challenge of the time-trial - has to settle for the admiration accorded to anyone, however unappealing, who can do as he did on Wednesday and remain among the leaders at the end of a 210-kilometre stage that included four gruelling Alpine passes.
Now at least everybody knows the nature of Evans's target: given that nothing changed as a result of the 165km stage from Roanne to Montluçon yesterday, he must use the 53km time-trial from Cérilly to Saint-Amand-Montrond today to overhaul the three riders ahead of him in the general classification.
Carlos Sastre, the Spanish rider with the CSC-Saxo Bank team, will start in the yellow jersey with an advantage of 94 seconds over Evans. Frank Schleck, also with CSC, is second, 10 seconds ahead. And Bernhard Kohl, the young Austrian who wears the polka-dot jersey of the leader in the mountain championship, is just a second in front.
Evans is a specialist in the race against the clock, so Schleck and Kohl can be discounted, barring an accident to the Australian. Everything in the form book, including the shorter time-trial earlier in the Tour, suggests that Evans comfortably has the measure of the current overall leader. But he will not be celebrating until the seconds have been safely gathered in.
In the centenary Tour of 2003, Jan Ullrich of Germany - another time-trial expert - had less than a minute to make up on Lance Armstrong in order to take the yellow jersey the day before the Sunday afternoon parade up and down the Champs-Élysées, but fell off in the rain and lost his chance.
The man with whom Evans is most frequently compared is Miguel Indurain. That is no mean compliment, since until Armstrong turned up, the Basque was among the four joint holders of the Tour's long-standing record of five career wins - alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault - and he stood alone as the only one to win all five consecutively. Armstrong swept that record away, but Indurain remains a reference point for sheer sustained pace while riding in isolation, thanks largely to his freakish lung capacity.
He was not much loved, however, at least outside the Basque country. There was a dullness about him that could perhaps be kindly described as opacity but never mistaken for any sort of enigmatic appeal.
Yet each of his metronomic rides against the clock was not just a tour de force of power and endurance but also tended to be decisive in a long stage race.
So it may prove tomorrow, as Evans sets off with his face set inscrutably behind his wraparound shades. If he and Sastre perform as they did in the first time-trial, held over a 29.5km course in Cholet two-and-a-half weeks ago, the margin between the pair will be more than two minutes in Evans's favour.
Once again yesterday Evans sat tight and, like his rivals, preserved his strength for today, finishing in the group of 122 riders timed at 73 seconds behind Sylvain Chavanel and Jeremy Roy, two Frenchmen with the Cofidis and Française des Jeux teams respectively.
It was at half-distance, with 80km to go, that Chavanel and Roy made their break from a peloton showing all the animation of a herd of contented Charolais cows grazing in the sun. The French pair managed to stay away, Chavanel taking the honours in a final sprint.
Guardian Service
Roanne to Montluçon 165.5-km
1. S Chavanel (France/Cofidis) 3 hrs 37 mins 9 secs 2. J Roy (France/Française des Jeux) same time 3. G Ciolek (Germany/Columbia) +1 min 13 secs 4. E Zabel (Germany/Milram) 5. H Haussler (Germany/Gerolsteiner) 6. L Duque (Colombia/Cofidis) 7. F Pozzato (Italy/Liquigas) 8. T Hushovd (Norway/Credit Agricole) 9. R Foerster (Germany/Gerolsteiner) 10. J Dean (New Zealand/Garmin - Chipotle) all the same time.
Overall standings1. C Sastre (Spain/Team CSC) 82 hrs 54 mins 36 secs 2. F Schleck (Luxembourg/Team CSC) +1 min 24 secs 3. B Kohl (Austria/Gerolsteiner) +1:33 4. C Evans (Australia/Silence - Lotto) +1:34 5. D Menchov (Russia/Rabobank ) +2:39 6. C Vande Velde (US/Garmin - Chipotle) +4:41 7. A Valverde (Spain/Caisse dEpargne) +5:35 8. S Sanchez (Spain/Euskaltel) +5:52 9. T Valjavec (Slovenia/AG2R) +8:10 10. V Efimkin (Russia/AG2R) +8:24.
King of the Mountain standings1. B Kohl (Austria/Gerolsteiner) 125 points 2. C Sastre (Spain/Team CSC) 80 3. F Schleck (Luxembourg/Team CSC) 80 4. T Voeckler (France/Bouygues Telecom ) 65 5. S Schumacher (Germany/Gerolsteiner) 61 6. J-L Augustyn (South Africa/Barloworld) 61 7. S Lang (Germany/Gerolsteiner) 60 8. A Valverde (Spain/Caisse dEpargne) 58 9. R Di Gregorio (France/Française des Jeux) 52 10. E Martinez (Spain/Euskaltel) 51.
Sprinter standings1. O Freire (Spain/Rabobank) 244 points 2. E Zabel (Germany/Milram) 202 3. T Hushovd (Norway/Credit Agricole ) 198 4. L Duque (Colombia/Cofidis ) 164 5. K Kirchen (Luxembourg/Columbia) 145 6. A Valverde (Spain/Caisse dEpargne) 125 7. R Hunter (South Africa/Barloworld) 115 8. R McEwen (Australia/Silence - Lotto) 105 9. J Dean (New Zealand/Garmin - Chipotle) 99 10. F Pozzato (Italy/Liquigas ) 98.
Youth standings1. A Schleck (Luxembourg/Team CSC) 83 hrs 4 mins 40 secs 2. R Kreuziger (Czech Republic/Liquigas ) +1 min 58 secs 3. V Nibali (Italy/Liquigas ) +15:35 4. Maxime Monfort (Belgium/Cofidis ) +24:44 5. E Gonzalo (Spain/Agritubel) +1:04:47 6. T Lovkvist (Sweden/Columbia) +1:15:28 7. J-L Augustyn (South Africa/Barloworld) +1:20:43 8. R Di Gregorio (France /Française des Jeux) +1:34:55 9. P Velits (Slovakia/Milram ) +1:37:17 10. L Leon Sanchez (Spain/Caisse dEpargne ) +1:43:56.
Team standings1. Team CSC 248 hrs 37 mins 12 secs 2. AG2R + 9 mins 27 secs 3. Rabobank +1 hr 1 min 17 secs 4. Euskaltel +1:07:57 5. Caisse dEpargne +1:11:56 6. Silence - Lotto +1:13:29 7. Lampre +1:18:16 8. Columbia +1:23:09 9. Credit Agricole +1:25:27 10. Gerolsteiner +1:29:14.
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