"Calm" Evans is the perfect teammate, says Hincapie

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Having been part of a winning team nine times, George Hincapie is ideally placed to identify what is required from a Tour de France winner. Hincapie was side by side with his compatriot Lance Armstrong for all seven of his victories in the race and he also assisted Alberto Contador in 2007 and Cadel Evans last year in the colours of BMC.

Hincapie knows Armstrong and Evans extremely well, and stated that the two men are very different on and off the bike. Hincapie will be looking to be part of a winning team for a record tenth time this summer, when Evans will look to successfully defend the title he won in 2011. If he gets to the start line in one piece it will be the 38-year-old Hincapie's 17th Tour - a statistic that offers proof of his longevity and his durability.

"Cadel is definitely a little bit more relaxed. He doesn't get so much involved in the team tactics, at least in front of the riders. I'm sure he does with John (Lelangue) but he relies a lot more on what I think about the team tactics especially on the road and what John thought in the car. To me this year, he was just a lot different."

"He was a lot calmer and seemed really happy with the people he was around that were surrounding him in the team and with the staff. He seemed calm where Lance was always very intense during the Tour and always ready to attack the race. Where Cadel wanted many times to let things go and see what happened. As long as he was in the front and out of trouble he was OK."