Evans happy to spruik rivals' chances in mountains Cadel Evans (left) and the peloton face a punishing menu of five mountains in Sunday's 168.5-kilometre ninth stage from Saint Girons to Bagneres de Bigorre. Cadel Evans is happy for people to believe the Tour de France will be decided in a head-to-head duel between Chris Froome and Alberto Contador. I prefer it because less people are watching you and bothering you. We can get on with the job of racing, which is what really matters," the Australian 2011 Tour champion said on Friday as the race approached the Pyrenees in which the second of two stages will be raced on Sunday. So happy is Evans (BMC) for the spotlight to fall on others, he is even willing to throw other names into the hat as ones to watch for. After the first week of the Tour, Evans felt two such riders were Colombian Nairo Quintano (Movistar) and Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha). It is not as if those two are new names to consider: many people would have pencilled in their names among outsiders who could challenge. Quintana, 23, is a rising star. Last year he won the Vuelta a Murcia, Route du Sud, Giro dell'Emilia, the main mountain stage of the Criterium du Dauphine. He has come to the Tour with season highlights of a win in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, and fourth place in the Volta a Catalunya. Rodriguez, 34, nicknamed El Purito (Little Cigar), is an experienced and credentialled campaigner whose grand tour highlights include a career best seventh in the 2009 Tour, second and fourth in the Giro d'Italia of 2012 and 2011 and third in the Vuelta a Espana of 2012 and 2010. After Friday's 205.5-kilometre seventh stage from Montpellier to Albi, only eight seconds separated Evans, Quintana and Rodriguez overall, but all needed to take back time on Froome and Contador in the Pyrenees that the Tour entered on Saturday for the 195-kilometre eighth stage from Castres to Ax 3 Domaines. Froome (Sky) was seventh at eight seconds to the South African race leader Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEDGE) who was expected to lose his yellow jersey on Saturday, whereas Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) was 11th at 14 seconds. Quintana was 19th at 25 seconds, Evans 22nd at 31 seconds, and Rodriguez 29th at 33 seconds. However, of the two, Evans tips Rodriguez as the dark horse. "Rodriguez is riding particularly well on a Tour course that suits him really well, and someone who is a little bit underestimated at this time," Evans said. He knows how to ride a three-week race, and it's so hilly this year, and the time trial [this year] is not exactly flat. So, if he can be there in the climbs and not have two bad time trials, I think he can certainly sneak in there. Evans and the peloton face a punishing menu of five mountains in Sunday's 168.5-kilometre ninth stage from Saint Girons to Bagneres de Bigorre. But Evans went into the Pyrenees believing Saturday's stage from the Castres to the summit of the Ax 3 Domaines would have more impact on the overall classification because of the mountain finish. "I think the time differences are more likely to be up at Ax 3 Domaines, whereas there will be a downhill finish to Bagneres de Bigorre ... for the first hilltop finish everyone is looking at each other and getting an idea of how they are going compared to their rivals," he said. [Whereas, on stage nine on Sunday], with a long downhill to [the finish] to make a selection is a little bit hard ... because you really have to make such a big difference.