Evans moves into Tour de France top ten

Monday, 02 July 2012

VIS scholarship holder Cadel Evans stayed out of trouble and moved into the Tour de France top ten as the dreaded week one chaos immediately took its toll.

Slovakian rising star Peter Sagan made a perfect start in his Tour debut when he won Sunday's 198km first stage from Liege to Seraing in Belgium. He beat overall leader Fabian Cancellara and Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen after the trio broke clear on the final 2.5km climb.

New Australian team Orica-GreenEDGE, featuring VIS riders Baden Cooke, Simon Gerrans and Brett Lancaster, worked hard to set up Swiss Michael Albasini for the win, but Albasini’s gamble of following an early attack on the final climb failed.

Evans benefited from strong teamwork, a feature of last year's historic Tour win, as he avoided the crashes. ‘The team is working well and functioning well and I'm glad to get one road stage done and the routine going,’ he said.

Evans remains 17 seconds behind Cancellara, but more importantly, he is still 10 seconds behind Tour favourite Bradley Wiggins, who is second.

VIS rider Matthew Lloyd, riding in the Lampre-ISD team, was involved in two of the crashes that occurred in the final part of the stage, luckily with no consequences.

All riders remain on high alert during the Tour's opening week because the pace is high and everyone wants to start well. The race continues tonight with a classic sprinter's stage from Vise to Tournai in Belgium.