Evans form not bad, time trial average

Australia's Cadel Evans has rated his form in a scorecard on his progress, three months out from his target event the Tour de France. In a diary entry on his refurbished website cadelevans.com.au, the Silence-Lotto rider said while his form isn't bad his time trial has some distance to come.

The entry followed Evans' fourth placed finish at Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco, where he took on Tour rival and race winner Alberto Contador (Astana). Evans finished the race's 24 kilometre time trial in eighth spot, 1:25 minutes behind stage winner Contador.

"The final time trial was, for me, a bit average," he said. "I think - way off the pace. It was enough for fourth on general classification, which puts me - like last year - the first non Spanish rider.

"The Spaniards here - in my eight starts of this race - are hard to beat," he added. "Super motivated, peak of their season, whatever, I have never come here super, but the last two years I have been at a competitive level."

Evans is looking forward to doing some one day racing over the coming weeks. "I am still progressing so overall the cardboard medal of fourth place is not bad," he said. "Next week most of us switch to some one day races, so I look forward to the change a bit further north."