Cadel Evans confident to secure his second overall victory at the Tour de France
Cadel Evans of Team BMC has finally found his first win of the 2012 season.
The cyclist grabbed his first overall victory at the Criterium International and is optimistic to continue the season with his extreme form.
The Australian finished 15th during the opening stage of the race and earned the top overall spot after his stage win at the 6.5 kilometre stage 2.
The stage victory helped Evans with the top overall spot after at the stage 2 classifications.
He had to ride exceptionally well to defend his lead as Michael Rogers, Simon Geschke and Maxime Monfort were within a minute gap of 2 seconds.
Cadel started the 179 kilometre final stage of the 2012 Criterium International and continued his dominance throughout the third stage of the race.
Pierrick Fedrigo wins the stage with Rinaldo Nocentini and Lars Petter Nordhaug at the second and the third positions respectively.
Evans finished a few seconds behind the race leader and grabbed the fourth spot which was enough to maintain his overall lead at the race.
He briefed after crossing the finish line, "We started today with .28 of a second between first and second”.
“The there were two second time differences for the bonifications at the finish for example, suddenly you've got your mountaintop finish but you're thinking about bonification seconds – it makes for a different race".
The 35-year-old achieved the biggest goal of his 2012 season after claiming the top spot during the Tour de France 2011.
He overcame Andy Schleck after a close encounter during the gruelling three weeks of racing in France.
Cadel is targeting the Tour de France 2012 as the biggest goals of his new season.
He believes that the victory at the Criterium International will help him build up for the more serious goals of his new season.
He noted, "It's a good indication [for the Tour] but we've got big races to come still for me, July at the Tour and maybe the Olympic Games”.
Cadel will be seen in action at the Ardennes classics and the Tour of Romandie as a lead out man for Philippe Gilbert for the coming month with the Tour de France as the centre of his attention.
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