Tony Martin wins stage 20 Tour de France, yet Cadel Evans on brink of Tour win

Added by Erik West on July 23, 2011

Tony Martin won the Tour’s 20th stage, an individual time trial of 42.5km, in 55min 33sec on Saturday.

The time trial marks the formal end of the Tour de France, yet even though Tony Martin won the stage, Australia’s Cadel Evans is expected to stand on the centre of the podium, to receive the overall Tour win, at the end of tomorrow’s final stage.

Cadel Evans finished the 20th stage just seven seconds behind Martin, followed by Andy Schleck who was 2m 30sec off the mark. Frank Schleck arrived 2m 33sec behind Martin – 3sec behind his bother Andy.

Cadel Evans is expected to win the overall Tour de France because he is first in terms of overall time at 83h 45min 20sec, followed by Andy and Frank Schleck who have times that are about one and two respective seconds longer.

At 34 years old, Cadel Evans is expected to win his nation’s first Tour de France – Australia is planning a national day of celebration in recognition of his achievement.

The race for the green jersey, the designation for the leader in points, is still on. Contenders for the green jersey are Mark Cavendish who has a 15 point lead over Jose Joaquin Rojas, heading in to the final stage of 95km.

Tomorrow’s 21st stage features an intermediate sprint followed by the campagne finale on the Champs Elysees.

The leaders in the various standings are as follows:

• Overall: Cadel Evans at 83h 45min 20sec
• Points: Mark Cavendish with 280 points
• King of the Mountains: Samuel Sanchez with 108pts
• Team: Team Garmin – Cervelo with 250h 57min 43sec
• Youth: Pierre Rolland with 83h 56min 3sec