Cadel Evans of the BMC Racing Team finished runner-up Sunday at the Santos Tour Down Under as the top of the overall standings remained unchanged on the final stage.
Time Bonuses The Difference
Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) earned his third Tour Down Under title as Evans finished one second behind. Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) was third, at five seconds. Evans said the result is encouraging in a season that is building toward bettering his third-place finish of a year ago at the Giro d’Italia. “Of course, we’d prefer to win and that’s what we are hard-wired to do,” he said. “But to be second by one second shows we are at a good starting point to work toward May.” Evans soloed to win Thursday’s Stage 3 and into the overall lead by 12 seconds over Gerrans. But Gerrans whittled away at the margin thanks to time bonuses and time gained on Evans Saturday on Old Willunga Hill to regain the Ochre jersey he originally donned after winning the opening stage. “Like I said a few days ago, in a six-day race, two days were suited to me and four days were suited to Orica-GreenEDGE,” Evans said. “So to be second by one second is not such a bad performance.”
Best Result In Eight Appearances
The runner-up result is Evans’s best finish in eight Tour Down Under participations. His only other top five finish at this race came in 2002 when he finished fourth overall. Evans told reporters not to be so quick to record this as his last appearance in his home country’s WorldTour race. “If Adelaide will have me back, don’t be so sure this will be my last Tour Down Under,” he said. André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) earned his second stage win by taking the bunch sprint at the end of the 85.5-kilometer circuit race through the streets of Adelaide. Sport Director Fabio Baldato said he was proud of what Evans and the team achieved. “Yesterday, we tried to make the seven seconds become 15 seconds because today we were afraid to fight with Orica and Gerrans in the sprints and at the finish,” he said. “We reached our goals, and we saw Cadel is back and in really great shape. He showed he can fight for a big Giro or another big race.
Listen to complete comments from Baldato and Evans on the BMC Racing Team Audio Line:
http://bit.ly/Vg94Oh