Australian Cadel Evans Finishes Second In Tour de France

Australian rider Cadel Evans has unfortunately not realized his goal of winning the Tour de France:

CADEL Evans has agonisingly failed in his bid to become Australia’s first Tour de France champion.

Evans, who began this morning’s 53km individual time-trial 94 seconds Spaniard Carlos Sastre, managed to wipe just 29 seconds from the Spaniard’s lead in a gripping stage 20, leaving him 1min5sec off the pace.

With only tonight’s largely ceremonial closing stage to come, time-honoured riders’ etiquette will consign Evans to second place overall for the second consecutive year after he lost by 23 seconds to Alberto Contador last year in eerily similar circumstances. [The Herald-Sun]

Cadel Evans’ bid to win the Tour de France was a big story here in Victoria since Evans lives in the Geelong area just southwest of Melbourne.  It must be agonizing for him to lose two years straight like he did.  I wish him the best of luck next year.