No yellow but Cadel's fate is in safe hands

06 July 2008 | 22:24 - John Flynn

One stage down and Alejandro Valderve wears the yellow jersey. A fine first-up showing by the Spaniard and it sets the stage for a captivating battle on this lap of France.

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While Cadel Evans was being spirited to Silence Lotto’s team hotel by his bodyguard, Valverde was forced to hang around the Tour media compound, holding court with journalists as he recounted his glorious stage victory dozens of times.

Add to that the hand shaking and backslapping, another doorstop with media at his team hotel and the phone ringing off the hook, and I’m guessing it would have been a long night for the Caisse D’Epargne team leader.

Granted, it was a ride worth bragging about! Being positioned on the finish line, the “pig pen” as one of my colleagues calls it, you don’t get to see much of the final minutes of the race, other than a few hundred bikes flashing past. More often than not, you don’t even see the finish itself.

It wasn’t until I reached our motel in Lorient Saturday night that I actually had a chance to absorb the final epic minutes of the stage. No doubt, Valverde was impressive. Team Columbia and Gerolsteiner also had their chances, but what really impressed me was the work by Silence Lotto to keep Evans in “the zone” during the final frantic moments on a technically difficult and downright dangerous run to the finish.

Cadel did everything right in stage one. He also had great support from a bunch of blokes who don’t often get the accolades they deserve. I’m talking about the workers, the domestiques on the Belgian team Silence Lotto.

The gravity of Cadel’s shot at glory hit home with me at Saturday’s race start when I spoke with his team-mate and self-described “guardian angel” Wim Vansevenant. “Seve” as his team-mates call him is the heart and soul of Silence Lotto. He is listed in the Tour’s Guide Historique as a two-time winner of the Lantern Rouge, the prize for finishing last in the Grande Boucle.

In any other sport, that would be a dubious honour, but not in this sport and especially not this race. “Seve” is a bloke who already should be awarded the Order of Australia for his work protecting Robbie McEwen over the years. He brings with him a working class “roll your sleeves up” attitude to getting the job done. It’s typical of the Belgians who live, eat and breathe the sport of cycling.

The look in his eyes Saturday revealed more than words could say about the importance of his role protecting Cadel Evans. If you think it would mean a lot for an Australian to win the Tour de France, believe me, the Belgians feel just as strongly about bringing home cycling’s ultimate prize. If they can pull it off, Australia will owe a debt to this Belgian team that, from the outset, took a chance with an Australian G.C. rider who’d been plagued by injuries.

It was concerning to hear both Vansevenant and Yaroslav Popovych were involved in incidents on course Saturdaty. I’m yet to get the full details, but according to Robbie McEwen, his good mate “Seve” went through a car window. Let’s hope both riders are fit to race on. Evans will need their help.

As for Cadel, my observation is that he’s composed, relaxed and in an excellent mindset. As Cadel would say “so far, so good.”