an aussie can win the tour de france

kadell evans only 2 minute behind with 4 stages to go! go aussie!

Evans contemplates victory

July 26, 2007 CADEL Evans has vowed to push through the pain barrier for an historic Tour de France victory after sensationally climbing into second place today.

The shock ejection of leader Michael Rassmussen after the Dane had won today's 16th stage opened the door for Evans to become the first Australian in history to win cycling's most famous race.

Barring major mishap over the remaining four stages, Evans should at the very least better his equal Australian-best fifth placing from last year and secure a podium finish.

Evans admitted he faced a massive task to overhaul Rassmussen's five-minutes and three seconds advantage after crossing the line 43 seconds behind the Dane in the gruelling 218.5km ride from Orthez to Gourette today.

But with Rassmussen then kicked out of the race by his own team – Dutch outfit Radobank – 30-year-old Evans now sits just one minute and 53 seconds by Spain's new tour leader, Alberto Contador of the Discovery Channel team.

It is a margin Evans, a talented time trial rider, could conceivably make up during Saturday's 55km time trial from Cognac to Angouleme – the penultimate stage of the tour.

"We'll see, I'm just going to go and do whatever I can on the time trial and see what becomes of it," Evans told Sydney radio 2KY today before learning of Rasmussen's demise.

"I (will) just go and race the best time trial I can and if that's what I need to ride – two-and-a-half minutes faster than second place to make up on that ..."

Evans admitted his body was aching after three taxing days' climbing through the French Pyrenees, but he vowed to battle in a bold quest for glory.

"It's a bit sore today, I'll tell you that. It was 220km in the mountains today, so I'm happy to have that one behind me, trust me," he said.

"But it's going alright and we'll see in the results in the final time trial. That's all I'm here to do. Whether I feel good or bad, it's where my place is on classification is all that matters to me in the month of July."

Rasmussen, 33, had seemingly weathered controversy over missing four out-of-competition doping tests in the past 18 months and had opened up a lead of three minutes and 10 seconds over Contador with today's stage win.

But Rabobank then sacked him from the race, claiming he lied to them over where he was last month when he said he was in Mexico and was actually in Italy.

The start of today's stage had been delayed by almost 15 minutes as the riders protested, demanding a clean race, before Rassmussen was jeered throughout.

"Judging by the booing that Rassmussen was getting as we were racing today, I'm not sure if his conscience is really clear," Evans said.

Evans was asked how he would feel if he finished second to Rasmussen, given the cloud over the Dane's participation in the race.

"I don't know if disappointed would be quite the word for it," Evans said.

"I'm sure I've been beaten by cheats before – I know I have – and I'm sure I'll be beaten by cheats in the future.

"So I just go and do the best tour I can and people who believe in me and people who know me respect me for that.

"Otherwise (I think) 'oh well, I did my best' and my conscience, I'm very happy with that.

"I just race my bike and do the best I can."