Cadel Evans captured the top prize at this years Tour de France, making the 34-year-old cyclist the first Australian to capture the events first place trophy after crossing the line at the Champs-Elysee during the ceremonial final stage, ceremonial largely because he had all but secured his win during the Grenoble time trials the day prior.

The final stage, number 21 in the event was captured by Britain’s Mark Cavendish, the third year in a row he has taken the top sprinter prize, even after having to change his bike on the Champs-Elysees.

The race was a close one this year with at least seven riders still in competition for the top prize while entering the final week of riding.

Evans nearly lost the race’s overall top rider prize when Andy Schleck took a large lead at Galibier pass, managing to rebound with a much stronger time-trial than Schleck during yesterdays leg of the race.

Andy Schleck of Luxembourg finished second overall, his third straight year in the second spot, while his bother Frank Schleck finished in third.

At 32-years-old Evans becomes the oldest winner at the Tour de France since 1922.

Cadel Evans Becomes First Australian To Win Tour de France is a post from: The Inquisitr

Sitting at a lowly 26th in the general classification of the 2009 Tour de France with all of his major rivals in front of him, it seems it’s not Australian cyclist Cadel Evans’ year yet again, after finishing second the last two years. But can he ever win the event?

There are several factors militating against him. First is that the teams around him are often flawed – no more than this year, where even before the two late withdrawals by team mates through association with doping he was going to struggle to get the support from Silence-Lotto that the likes of Lance Armstrong, Carlos Sastre and the Schleck brothers enjoy in their teams. This is mostly due to Euro economics: the most popular teams want European faces at the head of their teams because it makes them more attractive to sponsors to get attention from the media.

Armstrong fought this obstacle, which applied to him too as he was American, by managing to build a team sponsored by American interests. There have been muted discussions about mounting an Australian-flavoured team to take on the Tours, and there would certainly be enough Australian cycling talent to build a team full of compatriots capable of challenging for major honours and supporting Evans in a serious tilt at the top of the pedestal in Paris. However, unless a major Antipodean sponsor has significant Euopean interests, it is hard to see any Australian-based company justifying the millions upon millions of dollars needed to fund a team to enter the Tour de France.

The other major obstacle to Evans’ prospects is, naturally, the other riders in the race, but it’s not as simple as that. Tour cycling is not just about teams banding together, but Evans has fallen victim in the past to major contenders from rival teams joining together to push him out of contention by working him over on the tough mountain stages, with riders like Sastre and Alberto Contador taking turns to jump the field and tire Evans out in chasing down every attack.

The only hope in 2009 for Evans is if he can somehow forge a temporary alliance with one of the other contending riders, like a Sastre or LeipheimerKirchen, to get some of his own back on the dominant Astana team. If Evans can find a way to communicate with his European counterparts the need for them to bind together to fight the strong team of Armstrong and Contador, there may be a chance for Evans to use his obvious natural ability and work ethic to grind his way back into a position where he can contend for the maillot jaune once again.

Maybe next year, Cadel.

Why Cadel Evans can’t win the Tour de France is a post from: The Inquisitr

The comeback of Lance Armstrong is almost complete with the legendary American cyclist drawing equal in time with the leader of the Tour de France after the stage four team time trial, but not wearing the yellow jersey due to a countback.

After leaping from tenth to third yesterday, Armstrong’s Team Astana blitzed the 38km team time trial around the French city of Montpellier, finishing in a time of 46 hours and 9 seconds. The team of previous leader Fabian Cancellara, Team Saxobank, finished third at 40 seconds behind Armstrong’s team, putting Cancellara at exactly the same overall time as the American.

The decision on who was to wear the famed maillot jaune on stage five came back to a countback of fractions of a second based on the individual time trial in stage one, leaving the yellow jersey on the back of the Swiss Cancellara with Armstrong officially zero seconds behind.

While Armstrong will be the one getting all the attention today, it may be that his team mate Alberto Contador of Spain will be the major beneficiary of today’s stage in the end, as he moves into third at 19 seconds behind Armstrong and Cancellara.

Australia’s Cadel Evans was a big loser for the second day running, with his Silence-Lotto team finishing 2 minutes and 35 seconds behind Astana after waiting for one of their riders who crashed on the difficult street stage.

Full stage four results:

1. Astana 46.29
2. Garmin-Slipstream 0.18 seconds behind
3. Team Saxo Bank 0.40
4. Liquigas 0.58
5. Columbia-HTC 0.59
6. Team Katusha 1.23
7. Caisse d’Epargne 1.39
8. Cervélo TestTeam 1.37
9. AG2R La Mondiale 1.48
10. Euskatel-Euskadi 2.09
11. Rabobank 2.38
12. Quick Step 2.44
13. Silence-Lotto 2.35
14. Française des Jeux 2.46
15. Team Milram 2.48
16. Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne 2.58
17. Lampre-NGC 3.24
18. Agritubel 4.17
19. BBox Bouygues Telecom 4.41
20. Skil-Shimano 5.23

Lance Armstrong up to second on countback in Tour de France stage four is a post from: The Inquisitr