Evans finished 21st in the 33-kilometer race, 2’30” off the winning time of world time trial champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and 2’18” behind Chris Froome (Sky Procycling), who increased his overall lead to 3’25” with 10 stages to go.

"My time wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything particularly special," Evans said. "Looking toward Paris and the end of the race, it would have been ideal to take back more time on some of the rivals ahead of me, but I didn't have it in the legs today to do better. From here, I hope to improve myself for the next set of mountains and the next time trial and keep moving ahead on the GC."

Evans said he will try to rest up and stay safe on the next two flat stages. "There are always things that can go wrong, which, of course, we always want to avoid," he said. "Hopefully, we can recover and rest up a bit because Saturday, the Lyon stage, is not going to be easy and, on Sunday, Mount Ventoux is going to be the next really big shake up of the GC contenders."

'Many More Mountains Ahead'
BMC Racing Team President/General Manager Jim Ochowicz remained optimistic that Evans – who is less than 90 seconds out of the top 10 – can continue his move up the standings. "With this race, anything is possible," Ochowicz said. "This is like the halfway point. We're getting into the second phase. There are so many more mountains ahead in the last week of this race that maybe people haven't taken into consideration yet in their mathematical equations. We think that the race is far from over. Certainly for us, it's a lot more difficult to think about winning in Paris. But I wouldn't say Froome is the definite winner yet."