While Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador and their Astana team appear to hold all the cards in the 2009 Tour de France, poor Cadel Evans is in danger of being left empty-handed.

A few weeks ago, Armstrong, having seen Evans battle like a Trojan through the Dauphine Libere stage race in the French Alps, touted the Australian as Tour favourite on his Twitter page. But unlike the Tour, the Dauphine doesn’t have long flat stages with gusting crosswinds, or team time-trials that expose your team’s inexperience and naivety.

It’s not really Evans’s fault that he is in the position he’s in — cut adrift from Armstrong and Contador by over three minutes, way back in 18th place. But it will be a long road back into contention for a top-three placing, if that’s what Evans still has in mind, so the sooner he starts trying to get time back the better.

So on the road to St Girons, with not that much to lose, the Australian threw caution to the wind and attacked on the first climb of the day, the Port d’Envalira. The success of such a move — more than 150 kilometres from the finish with the Astana and SaxoBank teams fresh, ready and willing to chase — was unlikely, but on the other hand, with Contador so evidently the fastest man to a summit finish, what else was Evans to do?

Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel was bemused. "I don’t know what his intention was," Bruyneel said. "I didn’t really understand, but we just kept the team together and controlled the situation. It didn’t do us a lot of damage – it did him more damage, I think."

Predictably, the Australian’s move failed, but after the stage, an exasperated Evans remained defiant. "I get so sick of being told, ‘Why don’t you go in an early break? Why don’t you do this? Why don’t you do that?’ Do you think anyone in the Tour de France would let me go in a break?"

Evans may be the first team leader to feel suffocated by Astana’s stranglehold, but he is unlikely to be the last. If Armstrong and Contador continue their two horse race for the yellow jersey, others may yet feel the strain. Meanwhile, with two weeks left to race, Evans must continue battling to regain lost ground — despite the sneers from his rivals and the incredulity of Bruyneel.