Evans ready for stage to Hautacam

Tour de France favourite Cadel Evans got a "reasonably good" night's sleep and will start stage 10 hoping the effects of Sunday's crash do not harm his chances at today's mountain-top finish of Hautacam in the Pyrenees. Evans crashed around 105 kilometres into Sunday's 224-kilometre stage after hitting an Euskaltel rider and going over the handlebars.

He finished the stage in Bagnères-de-Bigorre with blood dripping from his left side and did not speak to journalists, but was heard shouting, "Don't touch me on my left side," as the media swarmed around him. Evans then handed his badly damaged helmet to Australian journalist Rupert Guiness and said, "This is your interview."

At the start in Pau this morning, Silence-Lotto team manager Marc Sergeant gave an update on Evans' condition. "This morning at breakfast Cadel complained of a stiff neck," Sergeant told De Telegraaf. "He also had cuts to his shoulder and back. But under the circumstances Cadel still had a reasonably good night."

Immediately after his arrival at the finish, Evans was examined by Silence-Lotto team doctor Jan Mathieu, but further medical checks were not needed. "Cadel got an extra-long treatment from the chiropractor," added Sergeant. "We must now wait and see how our team leader will perform in today's stage."