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Aussie tries his best on Le Tour

Cadel Evans`s hopes of a top-10 finish on his Tour de France debut will come at a price - as the gutsy Australian found out in the tough 15th stage won by George Hincapie on Sunday.

The 28-year-old from Katherine, Australia is showing he is capable of enduring the pain felt most by the riders who dare to race their way up the mountains. Evans has been producing promising displays throughout his first tour but the acid test was always going to be Sunday`s tough stage.

After finding the pace of Lance Armstrong`s group too fast as it closed in on the leaders on the final two climbs, Evans eventually finished just over three minutes behind the American - an effort that moved him up a place in the general classification to 11th, and closer to his aim of a top-10 finish. "The tour`s by far and away the hardest race I`ve ever done," Evans said. "It`s the most amount of suffering I`ve been through, and I`ve done some pretty hard events."