Unless something drastic happens, the podium is set!
CSC-Saxo Bank’s Carlos Sastre withstood the challenge from Silence-Lotto’s Cadel Evans on Saturday, defending his yellow jersey going into the final stage of the 2008 Tour de France.
A surprising Sastre ceded just 29 seconds to Evans over Saturday’s 53km time trial and will enter the Tour’s finale Sunday with a 1:05 lead over the Aussie, who is on track for his second consecutive runner-up finish in the Tour.
Gerolsteiner’s Stephan Schumacher, who in my opion, has been the suprise of the this years tour, had the best time of the day, besting two-time world time-trial champ Fabian Cancellara (CSC-Saxo Bank) by 21 seconds to claim his second time-trial victory in this race.
Results, after Stage 20
1. Stefan Schumacher (GER), Gerolsteiner, 53km in 1h03min 50sec (49.817kph)
2. Fabian Cancellara (SUI), CSC at at0:21
3. Kim Kirchen (LUX), Team Columbia at 1:01
4. Christian Vande Velde (USA), Garmin-Chipotle at 1:05
5. David Millar (GBR), Garmin-Chipotle at 1:37
6. Denis Menchov (RUS), Rabobank at 1:55
7. Cadel Evans (AUS), Silence-Lotto at 2:05
8. Sebastian Lang (GER), Gerolsteiner at 2:19
9. Bernhard Kohl (AUT), Gerolsteiner at 2:21
10. George Hincapie (USA), Team Columbia at 2:28
Overall, after 20 stages
1. Carlos Sastre (ESP), CSC at 84:01min00sec
2. Cadel Evans (AUS), Silence-Lotto at at1:05
3. Bernhard Kohl (AUT), Gerolsteiner at 1:20
4. Denis Menchov (RUS), Rabobank at 2:00
5. Christian Vande Velde (USA), Garmin-Chipotle at 3:12
6. Frank Schleck (LUX), CSC at 4:28
7. Samuel Sanchez (ESP), Euskaltel-Euskadi at 6:32
8. Kim Kirchen (LUX), Team Columbia at 7:02
9. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), Caisse d’Epargne at 7:26
10. Tadej Valjavec (SLO), Ag2r at 9:12