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Tour heads toward competitive finish

Spaniard Alberto Contador of the Discovery Channel team in the yellow jersey for the overall leader rides past a group of horse riders with the pack during 18th stage of the Tour de France near Angoueme, France, on Friday. PHOTO: EPA

Battered by scandal and doping embarrassments, the Tour de France might actually have stumbled upon a sliver of good news.

A competitive finish.

Alberto Contador of Spain and Cadel Evans of Australia are separated by a slim margin of 1 minute, 50 seconds, each going for a first victory in this event and suddenly thrust into the spotlight after the ouster of former overall leader Michael Rasmussen.

"Tomorrow [Saturday] is the most difficult day of my career as an athlete," Contador said after Friday's 18th stage, which was won by Sandy Casar. The French rider won the 211km stage despite crashing after hitting a spectator's dog.

The 24-year-old Contador would be the Tour's youngest winner since Jan Ullrich in 1997. A victory for Evans would be a big lift for sports-mad Australia, where rugby and cricket hold sway.

For the past two days, the Tour has teetered on collapse. Three riders were kicked out in the space of 30 hours -- two for doping and one positively lying. No further doping scandals hit the 104-year-old race by late Friday.

The race has been reeling from Wednesday's withdrawal of Rasmussen, as well as other drug-related episodes. The Danish rider was kicked out of the race by his Rabobank team.

Denmark's cycling federation said on July 19 it ousted Rasmussen for missing doping tests last month. He contended he was in Mexico, where his wife is from. Former rider Davide Cassani said he had seen Rasmussen in Italy.

The Dane left a pack of dispirited riders heading toward Paris, burdened by the latest jolt to the sport. On Tuesday, Alexandre Vinokourov was ejected for testing positive for a banned blood transfusion after the July 21 stage. Midway through Wednesday's stage it was announced Cristian Moreni had tested positive for testosterone. The Italian rider didn't deny it, and he was carted off by police.

Contador has a time cushion and in sporting director Johan Bruyneel, a cool head who helped Lance Armstrong to seven straight Tour wins.

The odds are heavily in Contador's favor, and Evans' Predictor-Lotto sporting director Hendrik Redant knows it.

"I saw him [Contador] this morning by the bus, and he seemed to be quite nervous," Redant said. "He is not allowed to fail now. He can only win. So for a young guy ... he has to stay calm. He's now the favorite."

Redant stepped up the mind games further.

"It's a big gap [1:50], but if you lose that you have a really big failure," Redant said. "He's a young guy, and it would be fine for cycling if a young guy like that can win the Tour. But it's a lot of stress ... and for him I hope he can cope with it. I know Cadel is very relaxed, he's very confident, and that's a big advantage of course."

Bruyneel turned the tables on Evans.

"Evans has to have a great day, and things would have to go really badly for Contador," Bruyneel said. "The best will win."

Levi Leipheimer, Discovery Channel's leader until Contador reversed the roles in the Pyrenees, sits in third place, 2 minutes 49 seconds back.

"Levi is also a good time trialer," said Chris Horner, a US teammate of Evans. "In all honesty any of the three could take the win. I'm hoping for Cadel of course."

The Tour took another odd twist on Friday when Casar hit a dog and fell off his bike. He became the second dog-hitter at this year's Tour, following Marcus Burghardt in the 10th stage.

"I didn't see it coming," said Casar, who won a Tour stage for the first time.

Evans also had an unexpected encounter. He couldn't brake in time after crossing the finishing line and smacked into a female spectator.

"I'm all right," Evans said, rubbing his shoulder. "The last two days have been good recovery from the Pyrenees."
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