Schlecks lose to Cadel Evans despite being favourites at the Tour de France – Cycling News
Thomas Voeckler, was the favourite contender to win the Tour de France along with Andy and Frank Schleck. The brothers had a better chance to win the Tour because of their climbing abilities and there were quite a few mountain stages, but Cadel Evans still
managed to steal the show.
Evans started the Tour carefully as he avoided the crashes and always looked out for the opportunities to gain time on his rivals as it gives a psychological advantage.
Schleck brothers were placed much better this year than the previous Tour as they built the lead over Fabian Cancellara, Jens Voigt and Stuart O’ Grady but they could not hold the position for long. They had a great deal of pressure to stay at the front
and as they had to come a long way in some stages to maintain their lead and wasted a lot of energy as Cadel Evans took advantage of that.
The brothers were trying too hard to win while Evans was looking for opportunities and he availed on the little chances and gained time over other leading cyclists.
The main reason behind Evans’ success was that he was fighting for everything and was giving his best as his approach has always been attacking while the Schlecks even when they were ahead of him were defensive.
Time trial is the other thing where the Schlecks need to work on as they already are getting trained in that area but there is more to be done as seen in the recent Tour. Evans is very comfortable on the descents and his comprehensive training on time trials
is quite visible through his performance during the recent Tour.
The Schlecks had the advantage at climbing as there are not many riders who are better than them when it comes to uphill climbs. Their weakness however, is downhill or at descends as they have been over cautious especially in wet weather.
Evans, because of a mechanical problem ended up with his team-mates and was wise enough not to go alone with Schleck and Contador as he decided to wait till the end. It helped him in a way because when Contador and Schleck reached the final climb they were
tired and it was the golden chance for Evans to show his strengths.
Schlecks took the lead over Evans in the general classification and their plan seemed to be working as they were leading the general classification with second and third positions amongst them. Cadel Evans came back strong in the final time trials as he
rode with confidence.
Evans finally won the tour with his outstanding performance in the final time trials while Schlecks lost only because they were trying too hard to win it.
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