Evans to wear number one in Tour

Widely touted as the man to beat at this year's Tour de France, Cadel Evans will also start the Grant Tour this Saturday with the number one start number. The 31 year-old Australian from Silence-Lotto was second in last year's Tour behind Alberto Contador, who rode for Discovery Channel at the time and will not start this year's event.

Number one was not used during last year's event as the doping case against Floyd Landis meant that the official win was still under dispute. Since then Caisse d'Epargne's Oscar Pereiro has been declared the winner of the 2006 edition and will be the only previous winner to start this year's race (see separate story).

With defending champion Contador not start this year's event, Evans' has been given the number one starting spot. Contador's Astana team was not invited to this year's Tour after the squad, under different management, was thrown out of last year's event following the positive sample recorded by Alexander Vinokourov.

The three week Grand Tour commences this Saturday in Brest, France. For more coverage of the 2008 Tour de France, see Cyclingnews' race section.