Sydney  - This time last week hopes were high that twice-runner-up Cadel Evans could become the first Australian to win the Tour de France.

But the chances of having a local boy wearing yellow on the ride into Paris dimmed just days into cycling's blue riband event.

Evans finished in the peleton in Wednesday's fifth stage to Perpignan but the damage might already have been done.

"I certainly have my work cut out for me now," the sometimes cantankerous star said on his website after Silence-Lotto's disastrous showing in the team time trial on day three. "We rode well, but really lacked luck."

Silence-Lotto was 13th for the stage, a mammoth 2 minutes 35 seconds down on winning team Astana. Evans is almost 3 minutes off the pace.

"I'm still close to guys like Andy Schleck and (defending champion) Carlos (Sastre) but a long way behind the favourites of Astana."

Evans missed the break on the second stage that catapulted Astana's Lance Armstrong back into contention for an eighth victory after a disappointing ride against the clock in the opening stage.

The amateurish performance of Silence-Lotto - a rider fell off, another couldn't keep up, and then Evans fluffed the finish by not waiting for the requisite number of riders to get on his wheel - shows Evans again without adequate support.

But Australians are finding it difficult to feel sorry for him. It's not all about bad luck and being in a weak team.

Local cycling commentator Scott McGrory says Evans is perhaps too quick to blame others for his disappointments.

"He doesn't do himself any favours when he talks about the tactics of the other riders or talks about the lack of strength in his team," McGrory said.

"If it were such a big issue for Cadel then he probably would have changed teams and found somewhere else that gives him more support. He hasn't done that so he can't blame his team too much."

Evans is touchy about criticism that he rarely rides at the front of the field. In fact, he is sensitive to any criticism.

During last year's Tour, the Swiss-based rider threw a water bottle at one photographer and head-butted the camera of another.

Last month, in the warm-up Dauphine Libere in France, he accused Spaniards Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde of not being serious about winning. Yet in the end, it was Valverde who won and Evans who was second.

Evans, a world-class mountain biker in his teens, was eighth in his first Tour, fifth in 2006 and runner-up the last two years with a combined margin of just 81 seconds.

At 32, he hasn't many more chances to win what many consider the world's toughest sporting contest.

Evans has been dismissive of Armstrong, even doubting that the Texan would turn up for the Tour to take on favourite Contador for the leadership of Astana. "Let's see if he's on the start line," Evans said in the lead up to the Monaco opener.

It's never been a good idea to get on the wrong side of Armstrong, the sport's superstar.

Evans said Silence-Lotto was the strongest it had been since he joined the outfit in 2005. "The thing that will show the most is the team time trial and we have to concentrate on that," he said.

Before the Tour started, he predicted the race would be won or lost on the climb to Mont Ventoux on the second-last day. Traditionally, the penultimate stage has been an individual time trial but this year it's tailor-made for the climbers.

"I've always failed in the time trial in that stage, so I welcome the change," Evans said.

As he predicted, the team time trial was indeed telling. Evans, and his battered Silence-Lotto teammates, have now minutes and not just seconds to pull back before they even get in sight of Mont Ventoux. (dpa)