Evans backed to climb up standings in the Alps

Australia's Cadel Evans is being backed by his team's deputy sporting director to emerge as the winner of the Tour de France's battle of the Alps and possibly the race itself.

Evans lies fifth in the overall standings, 2:46 adrift of yellow jersey holder Oscar Pereiro Sio of Spain, after keeping in touch with the Tour favourites in the two Pyrenean stages last week.

"Cadel is feeling good," Davitmon Lotto's Endrik Redant told reporters.

"Usually, he gets better and better during the stage races. We are ready for the Alps."

The former mountain biker should close the gap with Pereiro early in today's 15th stage, when the riders take on a 14.2-km climb to the Col de l'Izoard at the start of three gruelling days in the Alps.

As no team appears to have the strength that allowed Tour winner Lance Armstrong to control the race, Evans may be able to impose himself, especially on the steepest parts of the ascents.

Asked whether possible team agreements could help some riders, Redant said: "No. It is going to be a man-to-man fight. There is going to be something like four or five riders up there."

However, Redant hopes American Chris Horner will be fully fit to help Evans. Horner suffered a hand injury during the Tour's third stage and has been struggling ever since.

"I'm a little better, but I still have bad moments. There were two hours where I felt almost normal, that's already a huge improvement on the other three days," Horner told reporters after Sunday's 14th stage.

"I hope he (Horner) is able to charge his batteries on the rest day. After his crash last week, he went from bad to worse," Redant added, while admitting he was more apprehensive than Evans before the Alpine stages.

"I'm even a little bit nervous - in the car you have to decide things that make a lot of difference," he said.

Current Top 10 In Tour

1. Oscar Pereiro (Spain) 64:05:04

2. Floyd Landis (US) +1:29

3. Cyril Dessel (France) +1:37

4. Denis Menchov (Russia) +2:30

5. Cadel Evans (Australia) +2:46

6. Carlos Sastre (Spain) +3:21

7. Andreas Kloeden (Germany) +3:58

8. Michael Rogers (Australia) +4:51

9. Juan Miguel Mercado (Spain) +5:02

10. Christophe Moreau (France) +5:13