Cadel Evans managed to stay with the Schlek brothers and keep the time differences the same in last night’s stage. That is exactly what I was hoping for.

I was a bit worried when he was having bike trouble and had to change bikes, but a great downhill run got him back into the leading group.

He now goes into the final racing stage with a 57 second deficit. That should be enough baring punctures or falls.

It is interesting that in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré race in March this same stage was used for the 42.5 km time trial.

Evans did really well in that finishing 5th. He was 1 minute 20 seconds behind Tony Martin who finished in 55 minutes 27.

If Cadel can do the course tonight in around 55 or 56 minutes he should go close to winning Australia’s first ever Tour de France.

His strategy for tonight’s race is simple… “Start as fast as possible, finish as fast as possible… and hope it’s fast enough.”

Riders will depart at two minute intervals, with the slowest overall rider starting first, and the best-placed rider overall setting off last.

Because of this we should know how he is going compared to the Schelk brothers at the intermediate time checks. All going well he should be up by two minutes at the end.

Still yelling for Cadel and the hashtag for twitter says!

God Bless,

Dave