Cadel Evans wins Dauphine Libere prologue stage, Contador takes second place

Evans wins Dauphine Libere prologue stage

NANCY, France — Cadel Evans of Australia won the opening prologue at the Dauphine Libere on Sunday, beating Tour de France rival Alberto Contador of Spain by eight seconds.

Contador pushed Evans hard over the 7.5-mile route around Nancy, but Evans won in 15 minutes, 36.64 seconds. Defending champion Alejandro Valverde of Spain was 23 seconds off the pace to finish third in the prologue — as he did last year.

The race is a traditional warm up for next month’s Tour, where Contador will try to win the race for a second time after his victory in 2007. He will ride on the same Astana team as seven-time champion Lance Armstrong.

Evans has finished runner-up at the Tour for the past two years.

Monday’s stage takes the riders on a 141.4-mile route from Nancy to Dijon. The race ends Sunday in Grenoble.