Bruised and battered Evans keeps rivals at bay

CYCLING - TOUR DE FRANCE:IT OFTEN seems that the yellow jersey confers extra strength, perseverance and courage on its wearer. The same can be said of Bastille Day and its effects on French cyclists.

Both phenomena were in evidence yesterday as Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg fought with grim determination to hold on to yellow as the Tour de France climbed the Tourmalet before finishing at the summit of Hautacam, while for much of the day a young Frenchman, Remy Di Gregorio, ploughed a lone furrow at the front.

Kirchen eventually lost his jersey to Cadel Evans and Di Gregorio was eventually reeled in, the victim of a strong headwind in the valley between the two mountains.

The 22-year-old Di Gregorio might have proved a deserving winner on a day of national celebration, but he was very unfortunate to find himself not only riding into the wind, but caught in the crossfire of the battle for yellow.

At the start of the day it had seemed as though none of the favourites were confident enough to take the race by the scruff of the neck, yet as the slope to Hautacam steepened they had little choice but to fight. By the summit, after Kirchen's brave defence, a new order had been established.

Evans, the favourite, is now in the yellow jersey, though only just. Another Luxembourgeois, Frank Schleck, came within a second of claiming it.

Had he not lost contact with his two breakaway companions near the summit of Hautacam, Schleck would have been in yellow tomorrow when the race resumes after today's rest.

However, he could not hold on to Leonardo Piepoli and Juan Jose Cobo. The two are Saunier Duval team-mates of Sunday's winner, Riccardo Ricco, and together they helped fulfil Ricco's prediction of a stage win for the 36-year-old Piepoli.

"It is true that Ricco had said I would win here, but in reality it's just a coincidence," said Piepoli. "These things are never predetermined, our directeur sportif is not a magician!

"In the closing stages I had Cobo with me, who has different ambitions for the general classement. I have already been fifth in a stage of the Tour, and I already have good memories of the event.

"But I still have dreams and to win a stage goes some way towards achieving one. Today this was better than a dream. Now I have no more regrets about my career. I can be an example for younger riders. I love it when they come to me for advice.

The 10th stage winner said they were not riding for a top-flight outfit. "We have been strong so far, but we remain a small team. In Italian soccer, you have AC Milan and Juventus and you have Chievo Verona. We are Chievo Verona.

"Our leader is Cobo. Last year, he lost 26 minutes in the Pyrenees on a bad day, otherwise he would have finished fifth or sixth."

It came as a true reward because Piepoli was doubtful before the tour because of a crash in the Giro d'Italia.

"I crashed in a mountain stage and I spent three really bad days watching the Giro on TV, especially as Ricco did not win," he said.

Schleck is a real contender, as Evans later acknowledged, but the other story yesterday was of the collapse of two of the favourites.

Alejandro Valverde, who won the first stage, was dropped on the climb to Hautacam, as was Damiano Cunego, the 2004 Giro d'Italia winner who has based his season around the Tour.

Both cut an ugly sight on the climb to finish, more than 3½ minutes behind Evans. They will not make that back unless the Australian collapses in the Alps.

Valverde's failure in the first high mountain test has ruled the Spaniard out of a podium finish in Paris, Caisse d'Epargne manager Eusebio Unzue admitted last night. "For the podium, it's finished," said Unzue.

"It is obvious that this was not our best day, but it was not such a bad one," said Valverde. "What happened is that some riders and teams, CSC and Saunier, were very, very strong . . . I was more than two minutes late at the foot of Hautacam which means that it was, of course, impossible to come back.

"Now we will analyse the situation. It's true that there are many stages left before we reach Paris, but I think that from now on, we will have to concentrate on stage wins rather than on the general classification."

Asked if Valverde did not come too strong, too soon in the season after his Dauphine Libere win last month, Unzue said: "It was a bad day, that's all. But I don't think Alejandro was less good than on the Dauphine."

However, Unzue would not concede his team's Tour was a failure already. "We had nine nice days and we won two stages," he said.

Evans's performance was all the more impressive given the injuries he had suffered in a crash the previous day. He appeared at yesterday's start in Pau bruised, battered and barely speaking.

Evans has broken his collarbone five times and was relieved that on this occasion he had remained intact even if, as he put it, "full of holes".

He was in better spirits at the finish, clad in yellow for the first time in his career. "The crash gave me the scare of my life," he said, "but last night I had my osteopath put me back together and the team doctor patch me up. I felt shocking at the start today."

Evans struggled to keep his emotions in check, saying that "yesterday was my Tour low, today's my Tour high. I feel like I've been on an emotional rollercoaster."

As has Mark Cavendish, though yesterday saw the British sprinter crash to earth, literally, when he came down after 30km and gashed his knee. The double stage-winner struggled to the finish, placing last on the stage, 34 minutes down on Piepoli but safely within the time limit.

"I don't know how I crashed," he said, "but I think I'm going to have problems with my knee in the next few days."

Guardian Service

STAGE 10 DETAILS

Pau to Hautacam, 156km

1 L Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval — Scott 4hrs 19mins 27secs, 2 JJ Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval — Scott at same time, 3 F Schleck (Lux) Team CSC — Saxo Bank at 0.28, 4 B Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner at 1.06, 5 V Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale at 2.05, 6 R Ricco (Ita) Saunier Duval — Scott at 2.17, 7 C Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC — Saxo Bank at same time, 8 C Evans (Aus) Silence — Lotto at same time, 9 D Menchov (Rus) Rabobank at same time, 10 C Vande Velde (US) Team Garmin-Chipotle at same time, 11 Moises Duenas Nevado (Spa) Barloworld at 2.27,12 Stephane Goubert (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 2.49, 13 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas at 3.40, 14 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel — Euskadi at 3.58, 15 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia at 4.19, 16 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel — Euskadi at 5.22, 17 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale at 5.27, 18 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre at 5.51, 19 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at 5.52, 20 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) at 5.54.

General Classification:1 C Evans (Aus) Silence — Lotto 42hrs 29mins 09secs, 2 F Schleck (Lux) Team CSC — Saxo Bank at 0.01, 3 C Vande Velde (US) Team Garmin-Chipotle at 0.38, 4 B Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner at 0.46, 5 D Menchov (Rus) Rabobank at 0.57, 6 C Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC — Saxo Bank at 1.28, 7 K Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia at 1.56, 8 JJ Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval — Scott at 2.10, 9 R Ricco (Ita) Saunier Duval — Scott at 2.29, 10 V Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale at 2.32, 11 M Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel — Euskadi at 3.51, 12 V Nibali (Ita) Liquigas at 4.18, 13 S Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel — Euskadi at 4.26, 14 A Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at 4.41, 15 T Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale at 5.23, 16 D Cunego (Ita) Lampre at 5.37, 17 O Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at 6.01, 18 S Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner at 6.11, 19 M Duenas Nevado (Spa) Barloworld at 6.43, 20 M Monfort (Bel) Cofidis — Le Credit par Telephone at 6.47.

Sprinters:1. O Freire (Spa) Rabobank 131pts, 2. K Kirchen (Lux) Columbia 124, 3. T Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole 105, 4. A Valverde (Spa) Caisse dEpargne 96, 5. E Zabel (Ger) Milram 92.

King of the Mountains:1. R Ricco (Ita) Saunier Duval 77 pts, 2. D De la Fuente (Spa) Saunier Duval 65, 3. S Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner 57, 4. B Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 56, 5. F Schleck (Lux) Team CSC 46.