CADEL Evans fears Richie Porte’s Tour de France dreams have been shattered by a freak puncture on the second day of the 21-stage race.
Porte, on a career-first maillot jaune assault, copped a flat tyre 5km from the finish line of a routine stage two to leave himself with plenty to do.
Evans became Australia’s only Tour de France winner in 2011, but knows how costly even the smallest deficits can be after finishing second by seconds in 2007 and 2008.
“As someone who has lost the Tour de France by 23 seconds, on one side I can say his chances of winning are over,” Evans said.
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Asked if a podium spot was still realistic for Porte, Evans said: “I think it’s still a possibility, but of course with every second lost the chances become less and less. Let’s see what happens. Now that they’ve come to some more selective days the nerves lessen and hopefully we’ll see less crashes and it becomes less of a lottery just to get through.”
Porte crossed from Team Sky to Evans’ former squad BMC in the off-season for more responsibility. His early Tour setback has raised concerns his co-leadership role with American Tejay van Garderen could be under threat, but Evans said his old team had learned its lesson.
“Last year they had everything set to be on the podium and Tejay got sick and pulled out and they had nothing for GC (General Classification),” he said.
“Between Tejay and Richie, Richie is going from being maybe the best support rider to a lead role and to slow down that transition is perhaps a good thing because it’s a steep learning curve. But we’ll see in the third week when there’s two guys there and you have to make a decision (on who to support) on the last climb. That’s a very hard position to be in, having been there myself.”
Evans and Porte speak regularly, most recently at the Tour de France Grand Depart. At Paris-Nice in March, Evans told the Tasmanian he could call him anytime for advice.
“I think he’s in a good mindset. I haven’t spoken to him since his incident, that was just bad luck. He doesn’t need me to remind him of that,” Evans said.
“I try to be there for the guys even if it’s just a phone call or a message. Sometimes that can be the difference between coming out of a hole and staying in one.”