BMC Racing Team’s Cadel Evans finished second Saturday on the first day in the mountains at the Tour de France to climb into second overall, 10 seconds behind new race leader Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling).
Concedes No Time To Wiggins
Evans made a bid for the stage win in the final 400 meters, but he was overtaken by stage winner and Wiggins’ teammate Chris Froome, who counter-attacked to win by two seconds ahead of the pair. “I wanted to get some speed going into the curve,” Evans said. “You try to take what advantage you can. Froome was really incredible. He rode the last three kilometers or something, so to follow me and then accelerate past me, he could probably take the climb at his own rhythm. From behind, it looked like he went easy.” In the end, only five riders finished within 20 seconds of Froome. Evans said the gap could have been larger had the BMC Racing Team done even more of the work to chase down a seven-man breakaway in the 199 km race. “But when you see Wiggins has three guys with him and I’ve got one or maybe I’m isolated already what can you do that’s going to last from a long ways out?,” the defending champion said.
Van Garderen Set Up Evans
BMC Racing Team Directeur Sportif John Lelangue said everything went according to plan, despite Tejay van Garderen losing the lead in the best young rider classification he held after placing fourth in the prologue a week ago. “It’s a good outcome for the team,” he said. “We almost won the stage, Cadel did not lose time, but earned some places against other leaders fighting for the overall. There was a good teamwork with Cadel, who was well positioned by his teammates at the start of the climb. Then Tejay sacrificed himself in the flatter section before the two last kilometers, as we planned this morning. So we can say it’s been a successful operation.”
