Evans: 'It's not over yet'

By John Trevorrow

Despite losing a handful of precious seconds to the Discovery pairing of Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador on Stage 16's finish atop Col d'Aubisque, Australian Cadel Evans remains upbeat about his chances of more than just a podium finish in Paris on Sunday. Speaking to Cyclingnews after Stage 16, Evans admitted he may have underestimated Discovery's one-two punch but was looking forward to the final time trial on Saturday.

"I didn't want to concede any time to Leipheimer," said Evans of the final climb. "He's had a history of doing good flat time trials so it's certainly not over for me yet. Twenty seconds plus the time bonus... so 30 seconds. I had 1'30" [before the stage], I certainly didn't want to concede any time to him today, but you do what you can.

"I sort of underestimated Leipheimer a bit," continued the Predictor-Lotto leader. "I've been going a bit stronger than him on the climbs so I thought if he keeps working for Contador for the win... I thought Discovery would be more interested in the win than second or third on the podium. You know, I underestimated him a bit and Bruyneel is not a silly director, maybe he was playing with me while I was hanging there."