Tour De France 2008

"After so many years it's a dream," Sastre said, "but it was only made possible by my team-mates, Frank and Andy. The [team's] plan this morning was to attack. We knew it would be a long and tough day, and we tried to make it as hard as possible on the Croix de Fer [the penultimate climb of the stage].

"At the beginning of the Alpe I decided to attack," Sastre added. "Without my team-mates, I wouldn't be in yellow. They sacrificed themselves for the team, but that's the philosophy of the team." Whether his advantage over Evans will be enough to hold the jersey to Sunday's finish in Paris, Sastre confessed he did not know.

But the statistics still favor Evans.

In the stage 4 time trial, he was 1:22 quicker than Sastre over a shortened course of 18.3 miles. Saturday's against-the-clock race covers 32.9 miles.

Even though Sastre is the fresher rider after 17 stages, Evans still has just enough of an edge, according to Johan Bruyneel — who was Contador's sporting director last year with Discovery Channel.

"Cadel is not looking very, very good to me. If he was in super shape, then 1:34 would not be a problem," Bruyneel said. "It's not ideal for Cadel, but I still think he will do it."

Hats off to the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank, for their selfless action in following team orders, but did Team CSC miss a trick in not sending the Spaniard away earlier?

If Sastre had attacked on the Croix De Fer, could he have established enough of an advantage to make Saturday’s time trial all but an irrelevance?

They didn't, he didn't, and instead we have the same question that has been hanging over the Tour for what seems like several weeks now: how much time can Evans take out of the rest against the clock?

and if he wins i would not enjoy as traditionally tour winner has to show one decisive move on mountains which evans has not

The other question, which seems to have been attracting some debate on 606, is whether or not it would be a good thing if a ‘wheel-sucker’ (their words not mine) won the Tour. Whatever you think of Cadel, and he's been a taciturn, tetchy sort of bloke recently, the object of the Tour de France is to complete the course faster than anyone else, which he seems set to do.

When I was a young reporter working in the north east of England, our great athletics hero was Brendan Foster. He raced in the best possible way, attacking and attacking, trying to thin out the field so that no-one could use their kick-finish to beat him.

His bete noir was a policeman from Finland called Lasse Viren. Viren would sit on Brendan’s shoulder until the last possible moment, then just race past him and take the gold medal. We all thought that was a little unfair. Viren, by the way, also used to replace his blood after training at high altitude in order to give him an advantage.

You didn't get much high altitude if you were a Chemistry Teacher from Hebburn on Tyne, like Foster.

I do find Evans dull to watch. I've been impressed by plenty of other riders though. From the ever-optimistic escape artists like Sylvain Chavanel and Stefan Schumacher, to the marvellous Thomas Voeckler and those Schleck boys, there have been heroes enough on the Tour.

On the roadside we've had the lot; Basques and men in basques on Hautacam, two Elvises and a flock of wizards in the Alps, the mobile disco on Dutchman’s bend and half the population of Luxembourg cheering on their three amigos: there's been plenty of colour and passion.

It’s not over yet either. Thunderstorms forecast on Saturday mean that the time trial isn't a foregone conclusion, but ‘wheelsucker’ or not, the one word on everyone’s lips when asked for winner is Evans. We wait to see.