Time trial to decide le Tour de France?
July 26, 2008
Since Carlos Sastre grabbed yellow at the summit of L’Alpe-d’Huez we have witnessed two flat stages that as expected did not see any changes in the top places in the tour.
The real action is likely to place in stage 20 on Saturday. The riders will participate in a 53km time trial that takes them from Cérilly to Saint-Amand-Montrond leaving the start at regular intervals. The stage is quite flat and is not very technical.
The key to the stage is just how much juice do the riders have left in the tank after battling it through the French Alps. In a one off time trial of this length Cadel Evans is always expected to be able to take around two minutes from Sastre.
Going into stage 20 Evans needs to make up 1 minute 34 seconds to be wearing yellow at the end of the stage, providing Denis Menchov does not better him. Frank Schleck and Bernhard Kohl are not expected to figure in proceedings during the time trial. This makes the tour a race between three riders. Sastre, Evans and Menchov.
Can Sastre use the inspiration of wearing the yellow jersey to keep him ahead of the chasing Evans and Menchov? All will be revealed on Saturday 26 July as the riders take to the roads of France.
There is some talk that if after the time trial there is a slim margin to one of the riders the final stage into Paris may be a competitive stage. In more recent years it has been more a procession stage where the riders just cruise into the French capital and no effort is made to change the placings.
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