Cadel Evans - The winner takes it all

Andy Schleck lost the Maillot Jaune after yesterday's individual time trial and with it the whole Tour. If steady Cadel Evans can cross the finish line on the Champs-Élysées today, he is going to win the Tour de France 2011.

Cadel Evans, caricature. Pencil, ink on A4/110gsm cartridge.

Evans needed 55:40 min to finish the 42,5 km of the individual time trial, took stunning 2:31 min from Andy Schleck. In the race against the clock I needed 1:24:51 to finish the caricature, which clearly prooves that Cadel Evans can drive much faster than I can draw.
 
Evans (34) is going to be one of the eldest Tour winners and the first Australian ever to win the Tour de France. Which raises the serious question: Can you imagine an Australian not being intoxicated? I never met one so far - but you have to give Cadel Evans benefits for living in Switzerland, definitely a sobering country.

Anyway. No doubt that Evans' victory is well-earned, the most stable performance of all favourites, no wasting escape event, rather highly rational and with strategic overview.

What made this year's Tour really exciting for me, especially during the last three days, were Schleck's and Contador's attempts to beat rationality in romantic solo performances. Apparently, you can't beat rationality in the end. But you can keep trying.