Lloyd puts his hand up for first Tour de France start

Matthew Lloyd has recovered impressively after his Amstel Gold crash

Matthew Lloyd has recovered impressively after his Amstel Gold crash (Image credit: Gregor Brown)

At half way into the Col de la Madeleine that was the setting of the Dauphiné's stage seven finale, Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) was the only one of the three favourites to have a teammate leading him up while Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne )and Alberto Contador (Astana) were left alone. Evans' teammate was Matthew Lloyd who was fantastic on the crucial finishing climb as Evans was yet to receive help from Jurgen Van den Broeck who was still up the road in the early-race breakaway in order to be able to work as a domestique on the last climb.