CSC-Saxo Bank’s Frank Schleck in the yellow jersey rides safely in the slipstream behind teammates Andy Schleck and Carlos Sastre on Cime de la Bonette-Restefond on Tuesday in Stage 16. (AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

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For the second successive mountain stage, CSC-Saxo Bank threw multiple weapons at Cadel Evans of Silence-Lotto.

But unlike Sunday, when Evans cracked and lost time — and the yellow jersey to CSC-Saxo’s Frank Schleck, this time there was no cracking the tough Aussie, who would seem to be in the catbird seat at the Tour de France.

Evans is third in GC after 16 stages, just nine seconds behind Schleck and one second behind second-place Bernard Kohl of Gerolsteiner — who is having a breakthrough TdF. And Evans is a superior time trialist to Schleck, Kohl and fourth-place Carlos Sastre, Schleck’s CSC-Saxo teammate who is 49 seconds behind.

CSC-Saxo Bank did manage to do what Evans’ Silence-Lotto team was unable to … and that’s put distance between Evans and his primary GC competitiors — Denis Menchov of Rabobank and Christian Vande Velde of Garmin-CHipotle.

Both Menchov, a two-time Vuelta a Espana winner, and Vande Velde had tough days Tuesday in Stage 16. Menchov lost contact with the yelloe jersey group on the unnerving descent off Cime de la Bonette-Restefond, the second hors categorie climb of the day, and ended up losing 35 seconds to Schleck, Kohl and Evans, falling to 1:13 behind Schleck in the overall and 1:05 behind Evans.

Vande Velde, meanwhile, lost contact with the yellow jersey group that was paced up Cime de la Bonette-Restefond by Andy Schleck and for a time by Big Jens Voight, who had been in an early breakaway but came back to do some time in support to the yellow jersey to give Andy Schleck a bit of time to recuperate. Vande Velde trailed by 35 seconds at the sommit, but crashed on the descent and ended up losing 2:36. Vande Velde is now sixth, 3:15 behind Schleck, and just 8 seconds ahead of Columbia’s Kim Kirchen, who hung with the yellow jersey group nearly to the sommit Tuesday before tailing off.

Heading into Wednesday’s Stage 16, with three HC climbs including the mountaintop finish on Alpe d’Huez, Evans’ job will be simple … maintain contact with Frank Schleck and I think the yellow jersey will be his in Paris. CSC-Saxo will have to gang up on Evans again with Big Jens, Andy Schleck and Sastre in the hopes of cracking him and putting some serious time between him and Frank Schleck, because Evans beat Schleck by 1:47 in the Stage 4 time trial. He also beat Sastre by 1:16 in the TT.

If Evans doesn’t crack in Stage 16, the battle would then be for the second and third spots on the podium, with Schleck and Menchov as the favourites and needing to maintain their spacing over Vande Velde and Kirchen heading into the time trial.

But all that said, the riders will decide it themselves on the mountains today. Sound be pretty exciting to see the “heads of state” duking it out on Alpe d’Huez.

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