Cadel's fighting spirit impresses boss Cadel Evans toughs it out with teammates during the 197 km tenth stage of the Tour de France. Cadel Evans showed an ability to sustain rapid fire attacks in the last mountain stage in the Pyrenees last Sunday that could put him in good stead for a strong finish to the three-week race, team boss Jim Ochowicz believes. Evans (BMC) said winning a second Tour was "unrealistic" after he lost four minutes, 36 seconds to British favourite Chris Froome (Sky) on the mountain top finish to Ax 3 Domaines last Saturday. However, on Sunday in the 168.5-kilometre ninth stage from Saint Girons to Bagneres de Bigorre in the Pyrenees, Evans still rode strongly to take sixth place. He finished in a group of 18 riders that included Froome and other contenders such as Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Belkin), Spaniards Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff), and Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar). Ochowicz was impressed that Evans held his position when Quintana made four attacks with 35km to go on the last climb. He was as good as anybody else. Even when you saw the accelerations when Quintana attacked and Froome was reacting, Cadel never lost a position. He stayed right on his mark which tells me something more than Saturday's stage - a lot more," Ochowicz said. During the Giro, Cadel was always a little slower in those reactions - the turbo chargers - and seeing that [on Sunday] was a pretty big confirmation that he's OK. Evans was happy with his ride. "I would liked to have tried something, but 30km from the finish ... I'm not a guy Saxo or Movistar are going to let slip away," Evans said. In the finale, we were counting on Movistar to close the gap for us [to the winning two-man break]. I had Steve [Morabito] with me to help in the finish ... but in the end it wasn't for the win so we didn't take any risks there. It was certainly a much more promising sign than the previous day. Ochowicz believes the overall race was blown open by Sunday's stage in which Froome's isolation was preceded by his Australian wingman Richie Porte (Sky) being dropped early to slip from second overall at 51s to 33rd at 18m 30s. Before Wednesday's 11th stage, a 33km time trial from Avranches to Le Mont Saint Michel, Froome led overall by 1m 25s on Valverde and 1m 44s on Mollema. Evans was 16th at 4m 36s, and Australian Michael Rogers (Saxo-Tinkoff), 17th at 6m 14s. "I think Sunday opened the door wide open because [of the prospect of Froome] riding alone like that again ... twice more, three times more ... it's a scary thought," Ochowicz said. If he punctures, or has a crash and he is on his own ... you can believe what that group would do if that happened. They would be 20 guys going as hard as they can go, so he never comes back. It would be merciless. So I just think the race is still too early to call. Rogers, Contador's team captain, was with him in that key group on Sunday until near the end, and believes the Sky team is vulnerable. "The team isn't as strong as what it was," Rogers told VeloNews.com. They have to rethink the situation. Everyone has a bad day, it's a matter of when. The race is by far from over. It will toss and turn a lot, we will see lots of changes before we're through.