Evans to become first Oz Tour king

Cadel Evans was set to become the first Australian to win the Tour de France after leapfrogging the Schleck brothers in a final time trial won by Germany's Tony Martin on Saturday.

Updated on: Jul 24, 2011, 01:30:15 IST

Reuters | By HT Correspondent, Grenoble

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Cadel Evans was set to become the first Australian to win the Tour de France after leapfrogging the Schleck brothers in a final time trial won by Germany's Tony Martin on Saturday.

The BMC rider, who finished second in the Tour in 2007 and 2008, started the 42.5-km trial around Grenoble with a 57-second deficit to overall leader Andy Schleck of Luxembourg and four seconds behind Frank Schleck. Evans, 34, took second place in the penultimate stage -- seven seconds adrift of Martin, who clocked a best time of 55 minutes 33 seconds.

Evans now leads Andy Schleck by 1:34 going into Sunday's final parade to the Champs Elysees in Paris, with Frank Schleck in third place overall and 2:30 off the pace, according to provisional results.

It will be the first time that two brothers finish together on the Tour de France podium.

Three-times champion Alberto Contador of Spain finished the time trial with the third best time, 1:09 off the pace, and will finish fifth overall.

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