Cadel! Cadel! Cadel!

Abandon hope all who enter here
-Dante

Or the admonition written on the gate to sinners destined to hell, in the epic poem The Inferno. Indeed, there were doubters, cynical people who insisted, with some justification, that the Australian sensation Cadel Evans would falter somewhere on the torturous cols of the Alps. There was some very strange behavior on the Alpine climbs: on the south side of the Galibier Alberto Contador struggles to survive, on the north side of the Galibier Alberto Contador attacks then inexplicably soars up L'AlpeD'Huez like a falcon. Thomas Voeckler crashes his bicycle into a roadside automobile, he loses contact with Alberto Contador on the Galibier and slams his water bottle into the pavement in frustration, his legs finally lock up on L'AlpeD'Huez, and after ten heroic days his quest for the malliot jaune ends. Then there was the bewildering, almost fatal tactical blunder. On the col Izoard, thirty miles from the finish, Andy Schleck attacked the Evans group and amazingly no one responded. This was a brilliant move by Leopard Trek because Andy Schleck joined a teammate down the course who had escaped from the peloton in an earlier breakaway. Therefore, Andy Schleck rode as a protected rider: paced and sheltered from the wind by his teammate. Meanwhile, Cadel Evans seemed to be waiting for someone to chase down Andy Schleck who was gaining more and more time, and when nobody responded, he was forced to lead the chase himself, unprotected: fighting the wind, in a brutal out of the saddle effort. This worked to the advantage of Frank Schleck who rode protected in the group and was required to do no work to keep pace. What happened here? Obviously, Frank Schleck was not going to chase his brother and teammate. Thomas Voeckler was riding on borrowed time, so he had no inclination to chase. The other riders in the group were not serious enough contenders in the general classification to have an incentive to chase. There is unwritten etiquette in cycling races: there comes a time in every Tour de France where the riders will back off and let the two men with the highest certainty to win fight: mano a mano, in single combat. The reasoning: if Cadel Evans wants to win the Tour de France he has to prove it by chasing down Andy Schleck by himself, without help, and if he founders he will get no sympathy from us! It is astonishing that Cadel Evans and his team did not realise the danger and the implications of not responding in a responsible manner. Andy Schleck gained 2:15 on the col Izoard, won the stage, and moved into second place in general classification. Frank Schleck moved into third place in general classification, and Cadel Evans dropped from second to fourth in general classification. Malliot Jaune? Thomas Voeckler.

In retrospect none of this mattered. Andy Schleck was crowned malliot jaune on L'AlpeD'Huez after Thomas Voeckler faltered. But the critical time in general classification between the Schleck brothers and Cadel Evans did not change on L'AlpeD'Huez. The "race of truth" would decide the issue once and for all.

Cadel Evans standing on the podium, on the Champs Elysees, in Paris, malliot jaune. A proud man. There is hope for cycling yet.

Andy Schleck will win the Tour de France. Andy Schleck is most likely the true winner of the 2010 Tour de France. There is a WADA doping appeal pending in the CAS against Alberto Contador. Abandon hope all who cheat here?

Au revoir mesdames et messieurs until next year.

Next stop? The Tour of Utah.