Evans favourite ahead of Tour start
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Evans was only 23 seconds away from victory in last year's Tour. (AFP: Pascal Pavani, file photo)
Australian cyclist Cadel Evans's chances of taking out this year's Tour de France have improved.
He is starting the race tomorrow as a hot favourite for two reasons - he has a different team and there is a distinct lack of top competitors thanks to a series of drug scandals.
Among the missing are last year's winner, Alberto Contador, and third place-getter, Levi Leipheimer.
But Evans, who finished in second place last year, says his chances of winning are not better because of the withdrawal of so many top riders.
"In some ways it is also a disadvantage because it is one less team that's helping us to control the race for classification," he said.
"In some ways [there's] disadvantages [and] some ways advantages to the race.
"As far as the Tour goes, I always just go and ride my race and do the best I can."
"This year I think the main changes we just have a more focused and stronger team to support me.
"[Last year] sometimes I lacked some of the support that some of my competitors have had at certain points in the race."
After last year's Tour de France, Evans apologised to the Australian public, saying sorry for losing, despite the fact that he was only 23 seconds away from victory.
"I just felt that I had a nice following from everyone in Australia and feel that everyone in Australia was behind me and on my side," Evans said.
"And of course, I was disappointed myself and just imagine that some people would have been happy to see me win so ... it was to everyone."
Evans is unsure about how significant it would be for Australia to win the Tour de France.
"I guess it would be significant. I can't say. No Australian has even won the Tour and until one does, we won't really know I suppose," he said.
Doping
Over the past few years, the Tour has been blighted by doping and the reason that so many major competitors are not in this year's race is because of doping.
Evans says no one can guarantee that this year's Tour, which starts in Brest in Brittany, will be clean.
"As a professional cyclist we are by far the most controlled and tested individuals on the planet from any profession anywhere in the world," he said.
"Whether it is 100 per cent clean, I don't think anyone can guarantee.
"But everything that science and the law can do is done to us cyclists and sometimes a little bit beyond when it comes to privacy issues and so on.
"It's as clean as it can possibly be with the limits and limitations of science and the law as it is in the world."
Evans says the media attention surrounding doping in cycling saddens him.
"It saddens me that the media hang on one or two issues," he said.
"Compared to other sports, cycling has very few positive drug tests but we get far more bad publicity than any other sport. That saddens me."
He says people will always cheat.
"That is the way of the world, that's human nature and I can't control other people's actions," he said.
"But what saddens me most is that if cycling has one positive test of 20,000 drug tests, the whole world knows about it.
"But in other sports they can have 50 and no one knows anything about it."
Based on a report by David Mark for AM.
