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FOIX, France: Australian Cadel Evans spent a relaxing
first day in the Tour de France yellow jersey Wednesday as the
peloton reeled from a second doping positive control at the race.
Kurt Asle Arvesen of Norway beat
Swiss Martin Elmiger and Alessandro Ballan of Italy to the finish
line of the 11th stage, held over 167.5km from Lannemezan to here,
to hand his ambitious CSC team their first win of this year’s
edition.
“I’ve won two stages at the
Giro d’Italia and the under-23 world championships, but this is
the biggest win of my career,” said Arvesen, the national road
race champion.
“I was actually expecting
someone to pass me at the finish line but in the end no one came.
It’s the biggest win of my career, and it’s even better when
you’re wearing the national jersey.”
Evans, riding for Silence, rode
in with the main peloton 14:51 later following a bizarre final stage
in the Pyrenees mountains which saw him retain his one-second lead
over CSC’s Frank Schleck.
Still in third place overall is
American Christian Vande Velde, at 38, with Gerolsteiner rider
Bernhard Kohl of Austria in fourth at 57.
Two of Evans’ major rivals,
Russian Denis Menchov of Rabobank and Spaniard Carlos of Sastre of
CSC, are still fifth at 57 and sixth at 1:28 respectively.
Evans admitted that having the
yellow jersey on his shoulders had brought some welcome attention.
“You get some respect from your
peers when you wear this jersey,” said the 31-year-old, who
finished the race runner-up last year to Albert Contador of Spain
--AFP
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