ANGOULEME, France (AP) - 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 could win or lose the race during today’s time trial. The race ends tomorrow in Paris along the Champs-Elysees.

A slim margin of 1 minute, 50 seconds separates the two riders, 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 is the most difficult day of my career as an athlete," Contador said after yesterday’s 18th stage, which was won by Sandy Casar. The French rider won the 131-mile 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 last night.

That left Contador and Evans to concentrate on today’s 35-mile race against clock from Cognac to Angouleme.

"In this time trial, everything can change - my entire life can change," Contador said.

Added Evans: "We will know all the answers out on the road tomorrow."

Evans’ Predictor-Lotto sporting director Hendrik Redant said the 29-year-old rider is "very relaxed."

That can hardly be said of most everybody else in this year’s Tour. 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 July 19 it ousted Rasmussen for missing doping tests in June. He contended he was in Mexico, where his wife is from, in June. Former rider Davide Cassani said he had seen Rasmussen in Italy.

Reached by telephone yesterday, Rasmussen’s voice sounded strained as his young daughter cried in the background.

"I have no comments at this time," Rasmussen said before hanging up.

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 last Saturday’s stage. Midway through Wednesday’s stage, it was announced Cristian Moreni had tested positive for testosterone. The Italian didn’t deny it, and he was carted off by police.

On the opening day of this year’s Tour, with swarms of jovial fans lining the streets of London for the July 7 prologue, Contador beat Evans by a second. But that was only over 5 miles.

At the weekend’s time trial in Albi - won by the now-expelled Vinokourov - Evans finished second and Contador was seventh. The time split was 1:04 in favor of Evans, meaning he has to better that by 47 seconds today.

Today’s clock race to Angouleme is flat and favors Evans, whereas last week’s was hilly and suited to Contador.

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

"Levi is also a good time trialer," said Chris Horner, an American and a 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 yesterday when Casar hit a dog and fell off his bike. He became the second dog-hitter at this year’s Tour, after Marcus Burghardt in the 10th stage.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Advertisement