Sastre set for overall victory

Spaniard Carlos Sastre was poised to win the Tour de France after surprisingly resisting Australia's Cadel Evans in yesterday's 53km time-trial won by German Stefan Schumacher.

Gerolsteiner's Schumacher, who also won the first time-trial of the race, clocked a best time of one hour three minutes and 50 seconds to beat Swiss Fabian Cancellara by 21 seconds, with Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen coming home third.

Evans, who had been widely expected to overcome a 1:34 deficit to leapfrog Sastre, cracked and could only finish seventh, beating the Spaniard by just 29 seconds.

"I was calm this morning, I knew it was an opportunity of a lifetime for me. The dream has come true," said Sastre.

"It's teamwork. The Schleck brothers (Frank and Andy) sacrificed themselves for me. I was feeling better and better on this Tour. I have a good capacity to recuperate from my efforts."

Going into today's parade to the Champs Elysees, Sastre, who took the yellow jersey courtesy of a bold attack in the ascent to l'Alpe d'Huez in Wednesday's last alpine stage, leads Evans by 1:05.

Austrian climber Bernhard Kohl of the Gerolsteiner team is in third place 1:20 off the pace.

Sastre's imminent victory also belongs to Bjarne Riis, whose CSC team have dominated throughout the Tour, with Luxembourg's Andy Schleck claiming the white jersey for the best young rider.

Riis, who did not come on the Tour last year after admitting he had used banned substances during his 1996 Tour de France success, said "We did what we had planned. On the last 15 km, Sastre was riding as fast as Fabian (Cancellara)."

Sastre, riding in his eighth Tour de France, should become the third Spaniard in a row to win the world's greatest stage race, after Oscar Pereiro and Alberto Contador.

Contador, who won the Giro d'Italia last month, did not take part in the Tour because his Astana team were not invited as a result of their past doping record.