Cadel Evans faces a mountain of challenges to win Giro d’Italia

CADEL Evans has one week to wrestle back the lead in the Giro d’Italia where victory would cement his standing as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.

Overall leader Cadel Evans of Australia, center, pedals in the pack during the 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Modena to Salso Maggiore, Italy, Tuesday, May 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Fabio Ferrari)

CADEL Evans has one week and five gruelling mountain stages to wrestle back the lead in the Giro d’Italia where victory would cement his standing as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.

The 37-year-old’s four-day stint in the pink jersey ended on Thursday night when he surrendered the race lead to Colombian Rigoberto Uran in the 41.9km individual time trial.

Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s Uran won the time trial in 57mins 34secs while Evans was third 1min 34secs behind.

It meant the Australian went into last night’s sprint-friendly Stage 13 from Fossano to Rivarolo Canavese second on general classification - 37secs behind Uran but one minute ahead of other major threats Domenico Pozzovivo and Nairo Quintana.

“I saw Uran coming into form but I honestly did not expect him to have such an amazing time trial,” Evans said.

“He seemed to be a class above today, he had a great day and he was well adapted to the course.

“Of course, I had hoped to have done better myself. The time trial course suited me well, but as I said yesterday, the verdict is on the road.

“My position is good tactically ... I think it is going to be interesting.”

The third and final week of the Giro d’Italia includes five mountain stages and one 26.8 uphill individual time trial.

“It’s going to be interesting, we’ll see a new team with the responsibility to control the race and there’s still a lot of the Giro yet to be raced.

“The results of Pozzovivo also showed someone who is certainly still in the game.”

Already the only Australian to win the Tour de France in 2012, Evans last year became the first Australian to finish on the podium of the Giro d’Italia when he was third overall.

If he is able to reclaim the lead and wear the maglia rosa in Trieste next Sunday evening, he will become the oldest winner in the race’s history, surpassing Italian Fiorenzo Magni who was 34 when he triumphed in 1955.

Evans would also join an illustrious list of just 14 riders to have won both the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia in their careers.

This year after being told by his BMC team that he would not be required at the Tour de France, Evans focused all his attention on attempting to win the first of cycling’s three Grand Tours for the year.

BMC has turned to 25-year-old American Tejay van Garderen to lead it in this year’s Tour de France which Evans admitted was initially hard to take. But it may now appear to have been a blessing in disguise.

“Initially for me to not think about the Tour de France ... I didn’t want to leave it in such a bad state,” Evans said in the off-season.

“I would have liked to have gone back and given it one more shot and done a good result. That was disappointing for me initially but then after getting over that, the Giro is a race that I love, I started the Grand Tours in, it’s a race I want to do and a different challenge which is refreshing in a lot of ways.

“I committed 10 years of my life to the Tour de France, to commit one year or one month at least to something else is refreshing.”

Evans was put in a strong position for a shot at the pink jersey by his BMC team after Stage 1 when it finished the team time trial in third place to instantly grab 48 seconds over major rivals Quintana and more than a minute on Joaquin Rodriguez.

His title hopes were given another boost on Stage 6 when Rodriguez crashed out of the tour and Quintana was held up in the carnage.

Evans showed all the class and knowledge of a rider with his experience by staying out of trouble at the front of the peloton then riding on to finish the stage in third place behind compatriot Michael Matthews who took line honours.

But with a brutal final week of climbing still to come, there will be nowhere for anyone to hide and it will simply be a case of the strongest man wins.

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Originally published as Cadel Evans faces a mountain of challenges to win Giro d’Italia