Evans readies for race against the clock

After another dramatic day of racing in the French Alps, Evans is within tantalising reach of Australia’s first ever win in one of the world’s most iconic sporting events.

With the individual time trial certain to decide the 2011 champion, Evans, considered a specialist in the discipline sits 57 seconds adrift of yellow jersey holder Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck, and just four seconds behind Frank Schleck.

Evans moved into third place on the 19th stage up the Alpe d’Huez and within sight of a win that would surely rank as one of the greatest in Australian sport.

After two near-misses in 2007 and 2008, Evans’s tactics will be very simple ahead of what is sure to be a brutal 42km race against the clock.

“Start as fast as possible and finish as fast as possible, and hope it's fast enough” Evans said when asked how he was going to approach the most important day of his life.

"Of course I would like to take more time going into the time trial, I'd much rather be in yellow with five minutes (lead) going into the time trial."

After Thomas Voeckler finally relinquished the yellow jersey Evans moved up from fourth overall to third after another punishing day of racing.

And after two days of duelling with the Schlecks in the Alps, the tension between the keen rivals is sure to spill out into the time trial.

They are in two I’m in one, they are there for yellow, and they want me to drag them up there?” Evans asked reporters of the Schlecks after stage 19

“I don’t understand that. They could have ridden with us to close to Voeckler but they didn’t want to. I had enough time in the wind by myself yesterday.”

Evans has reason to be reticent ahead of the decisive time-trial, after being so close to overall victory in the greatest race of them all previously. In 2007 he finished second to Levi Leipheimer in the final time trial, missing out on overall victory to Contador by just 23secs.

A year later he was stunned by Carlos Sastre when the Spaniard, helped by the Schleck brothers, launched an attack at the foot of the Alpe d'Huez to win the stage and take the yellow jersey.

On the following day's time trial, Evans underperformed spectacularly as Sastre, wearing the yellow jersey, won the race by almost a minute.

That loss, according to former professional Allan Peiper - now a sports director with HTC-Highroad - was mainly because of Evans's efforts earlier in the season.

"It comes more down to how much reserves you have left in the tank," Peiper told AFP.

"I look back a few years when Cadel Evans did fantastically in the Dauphine Libere, and then lost the Tour in the final time trial - not because somebody else beat him but because he didn't do the time trial that Cadel can normally do.

"That's when you can say that if you leave too much on the road in the Dauphine you might not have it those last days in the Tour."

After two forgettable years on the race when he finished well out of the podium places, Evans this year has returned far stronger and far more focused.