The first ever Australian to win the famous Tour de France cycle race has also climbed to the top of the World rankings.
A rolling stage start on the Tour Image: Skoda UK |
In one of the most exciting episodes of the three week long battle of cyclist against cyclist, road, mountain and weather, Australia's Cadel Evans took the coveted 'maillot jaune' (yellow jersey) of the overall race leader with just one day to go.
Thirty four year-old Evans had started the penultimate stage of the 3,300km race almost one minute behind the leader, Germany's Andy Schleck. But the day was an individual time trial, pitting each rider against the clock, rather than riding in the usual peleton. Evans not only clawed back the time, but finished the stage over one and a half minutes ahead of Schleck and just seven seconds from winning the stage outright.
His efforts were enough to clinch an overall victory as Evans rode into Paris on the final day along with his BMC teammates. Meanwhile, HTC Highroad's Mark Cavendish became the first Britain to take the green jersey as the fastest overall sprinter of the Tour, taking his fifth stage win of the 2011 Tour (the 20th of his three year Tour career) in Paris.
Evans' win lifts him to the top of the UCI World Tour cycling rankings, ahead of Philippe Gilbert and Alberto Contador.
The Tour's Polkadot Jersey for King of the Mountains went to Euskaltel-Euskadi's Samuel Sanchez from Spain, with Frenchman Pierre Rolland of Team Europcar winning the rookie's White Jersey. The team prize went to Team Garmin Cervelo.