As expected, the final victory of the Tour de France 2011 was decided in the individual time trial in Grenoble today. The Australian rider Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) obtained the most interesting result by finioshing second on the 42.5 kilometer long race in the streets of Grenoble, behind Tony Martin (Team HTC-Highroad) who already won exactly the same time trial during the Critérium du Dauphiné. Indeed, after his second places in 2007 and 2008, Evans will become the first Australian winner of the Tour de France tomorrow on the Champs-Elysées in Paris!

The first rider started under a heavy sky and it didn't take long before the rain started to fall on the riders during their individual effort. This rain played an important role in the result of this time trial. Indeed, Fabian Cancellara (Team Leopard-Trek), seen as one of the main favorites of this stage, did almost his whole time trial under the rain and even though he improved the best time of Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at that moment, these weather conditions finally put him back at the 8th place at 1'42".

On a road which had dried in the mean time, Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-Sungard) and Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) go under the time of the Swiss time trial specialist for 12 and 13 seconds. The same goes for Tony Martin (Team HTC-Highroad) and when the German rider improves De Gendt's time for 1'29" it rapidly becomes clear that he was set to do the same exploit as in the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Number two in the general classification before this stage, Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team), also did a very good time, only 7 seconds behind the winner Tony Martin! 57 seconds seperated the yellow jersey Andy Schleck (Team Leopard-Trek) and at the intermediate timing points we already saw that the Australian rider is way better than the young rider from Luxembourg in such a stage. Schleck finally ended at the 17th place at 2'38" behind Martin and thus at 2'31" behind Evans. The 57 seconds which seperated them thus became 94 seconds while their places switched. Andy Schleck will thus for the 3rd time in row finish at the second place while his brother Fränk remains 3rd at 2'30".

The classifications of the Tour de France 2011 the day before the final finish in Paris

The classifications of the Tour de France only very rarely change on the last day and the current classifications for the different jerseys will thus most probably be the final classifications.

The Tour de France 2011 will thus be won by Cadel Evans who will get the yellow jersey on the podium tomorrow while the polka dot jersey for best climber is for Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and the green jersey for the points classification is for the British rider Mark Cavendish (Team HTC-Highroad). Best young rider and thus white jersey is the winner of yesterday's stage on Alpe d'Huez, Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar) who did a lot of work for his leader Thomas Voeckler when he was in yellow during 10 days.

The general classification

Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) thus takes the lead in the general classification after this stage. The Australian rider will thus be in yellow tomorrow on the Champs-Elysées for the very first time, not only for the former World Champion himself but also for his nation!

1/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - 83h45'20"
2/ Andy Schleck (Team Leopard-Trek) - +1'34"
3/ Fränk Schleck (Team Leopard-Trek) - +2'30"
4/ Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) - +3'20"
5/ Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) - +3'57"

It's important to know that where the top 20 was in 26'37" last year, the gaps seem to be more important this year because Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) who's currently 20th is 31'42" behind on Cadel Evans !

Points classification

The points classification was decided a few days ago already and in contrast to last year, the green jersey is solid on the shoulders of Mark Cavendish (Team HTC-Highroad) who finishes in ahead of José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar Team) for 15 points !

1/ Mark Cavendish (Team HTC-Highroad) - 280 points
2/ José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar Team) - 265 points
3/ Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) - 230 points
4/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - 208 points
5/ Thor Hushovd (Team Garmin-Cervélo) - 195 points

King of the Mountains classification

The Spanish Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) will for the first time win the polka dot jersey as the leader of the King of the Mountain classification, also leaving the second place to Andy Schleck in this classification.

1/ Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) - 108 points
2/ Andy Schleck (Team Leopard-Trek) - 98 points
3/ Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) - 74 points
4/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - 58 points
5/ Frank Schleck (Team Leopard-Trek) - 56 points

Best young rider classification

In the battle for the white jersey and Škoda's Yéti, Pierre Rolland keeps the first place which he took after yesterday's stage on top of Alpe d'Huez. Only 46 seconds separate him from the Estonian rider who had it before, Rein Taaramae (Cofidis).

1/ Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar) - 83h56'03"
2/ Rein Taaramae (Cofidis, le crédit en ligne) - +0'46"
3/ Jérôme Coppel (Saur-Sojasun) - +7'53"

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Tour de France | Tour de France 2011

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