Australian Tour de France champion confident but watching key rival for July’s race
Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) is looking ahead to the next few stages of the Critérium du Dauphiné with confidence, but has one eye on defending race champion Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky). The Australian Tour de France champion currently sits second overall, following his stage one victory, just one second behind the British champion, with tomorrow’s time trial and the three following mountain stages to come.
The two riders will be battling for the Dauphiné’s yellow jersey, but it is that of the Tour de France that both riders are focussing on.
“From here until Sunday will be a better indicator of how we’re going towards the Tour de France and what areas we need to improve on,” said Evans after the flattish third stage. “The team is working well and everyone is riding well and we’re functioning very well as a unit.”
With Wiggins in the race lead however, and with the British rider specialising in the race against the clock, Evans expects the Team Sky rider to be his biggest challenger.
“If he has a good time trial, he’s also been climbing really well this year and over one week he’s proven this year to be very consistent in the mountains,” he said. “Tomorrow is certainly one of the key days, if not the most important day.”
Wiggins himself is confident ahead of tomorrow’s test, having been shepherded through the preceding stages by Team Sky, and it is them that he credits for his current position.
“As they have all season, the team have put me in the perfect position for the time trial tomorrow,’ he explained. “Without them I’d be nothing this year – it doesn’t matter how strong you are as an individual, you’re nothing without a team.”
While the 53.5km course will not feature any classified climbs, and nothing in comparison to the Alpine ascents that will be scaled in the days that follow, tomorrow’s time trial will feature very little flat and should provide a stiff test.
“I think it’s really going to sort the men out from the boys tomorrow,” said Wiggins. “It looks a super course which should be ideal for me and it’s going to have a massive say in deciding the race – the time gaps will certainly look pretty different afterwards.”