Sunderland hopes Sastre proves fresher than Evans in final time trial

By Justin Davis

Australian Scott Sunderland has spent three weeks trying to make sure compatriot Cadel Evans loses the Tour de France.

Now Sunderland, a co-team manager with CSC-Saxo Bank, is preparing for the distinct possibility that Evans will upset his race leader, Carlos Sastre, in Saturday’s penultimate stage time trial.

Sastre goes into the 53km race against the clock with a lead of one minute and 34 seconds on Silence-Lotto’s Evans, and with the yellow jersey on his back.

But the 33-year-old Spaniard knows that Evans, thanks to his formidable time trialing, is the big favorite to triumph in Paris this Sunday.

CSC owner Bjarne Riis has already said that whatever happens, he will be “proud” of the way his team performed throughout the Tour. Sunderland, however, is praying Sastre punches above his weight to hand CSC its first-ever Tour triumph.

“The time-trial course is not perfect for Carlos, but he’s in good shape, he has the yellow jersey and a lot of motivation and he just seems to be getting better and better, he always does on the third week,” Sunderland told AFP.

“I think Carlos will be fresher, he hasn’t been under pressure. It could be (a major factor).”

In the event of a Sastre defeat, CSC will perhaps look back at its race tactics in the Alps to see where things went wrong.

Despite dominating Evans’ almost non-existent team in the mountains, CSC ultimately failed to shake Evans until Sastre’s fine solo victory on the last alpine stage at the summit of L’Alpe d’Huez.

Then, after Frank Schleck took the overall lead on the first of three alpine stages, leaving Evans just eight seconds behind, the Danish team had trouble dropping the Australian. Schleck failed to take any further time on the second day in the Alps, leaving them with only stage 17 to do the damage.

Since Sastre is stronger in the time trial than Schleck, it was up to the Spaniard to take over from the Luxembourg champion and launch CSC’s bid to keep the yellow jersey.

The team was rightly delighted with Sastre’s performance, but the fact remains that Evans is widely expected to overhaul his 1:34 deficit and become the first Australian winner of the race.

Sunderland believes that Evans can thank a few teams whose respective ambitions on the way up the 13.8km climb to L’Alpe d’Huez allowed him to limit his losses.

“In the end he only had to pull the last five kilometers out of the 13.8. I think he got off pretty lightly. If it was just Carlos against Cadel, Carlos would easily have taken another 30 seconds,” added Sunderland.

Another 30 seconds in Sastre’s favor ahead of Saturday’s decider would have Evans a litte more anxious.

And as Sastre prepares for the race of his life, Sunderland admits CSC could probably have benefited from another mountaintop finish.

Although critical of the way Silence rode while Evans had the yellow jersey, Sunderland says that whatever happens, CSC will finish the Tour satisfied.

“It’s not just having the yellow jersey in Paris. It’s how you do it, how you approach it, defend it and what you do in the race,” he added.

“To be honest they (Silence) didn’t deserve the yellow jersey. It wasn’t that Cadel didn’t deserve it, but the team didn’t deserve it because they couldn’t defend it. The way the (CSC) boys rode, the way they’ve taken it and defended the jersey was phenomenal.

“If it ends up we don’t have the jersey, if Carlos loses it by one second then so be it. That’s a bike race and there’s only one winner. But we’ve done everything possible to achieve our goals.”

FILED UNDER: Road / Tour de France TAGS: Tour de France