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SUPER-BESSE, France: Cadel Evans kept his powder dry for the Tour de
France’s first big Pyrenean battle this weekend with a solid sixth
stage performance which moved him up to second place on Thursday.
Team Columbia’s Kim Kirchen created his own
piece of Tour de France history by becoming the first Luxemburger in
nearly 50 years to pull on the race’s yellow jersey.
However, Evans showed, for the second time this
week, that his bid to become Australia’s first Tour champion is
coming together nicely.
On what was the first climbers’ stage of the
race, albeit in the “medium mountains,” Evans suffered his first
little scare when he punctured.
He and his Silence teammate Yaroslav Popovych
promptly dealt with that mishap, and later, when it came to the
crucial point of the day—the 11.5-km climb to the “summit”
finish here—Evans was regular, rather than spectacular.
Italian Riccardo Ricco of Saunier Duval burst
away from Alejandro Valverde in the final meters of the climb to
claim his first stage win of the race.
Evans finished just behind the Spaniard, and
later admitted that not losing time to his big rival had been his
priority.
“Overall I’m happy,” said Evans after he
emerged from a post-race anti-doping control.
-- AFP
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