Evans breaks down in tears

Saint-Jean-De-Maurienne - Cadel Evans' hopes of becoming Australia's first Tour de France champion took a huge blow on Tuesday when he lost precious minutes to key rivals on the ninth stage.

BMC rider Evans had taken the race lead at the end of Sunday's eighth stage, when he finished 10secs behind stage winner Andy Schleck to take a 20sec overall lead on the Luxemburger.

However a day after the race's first rest day Evans was dropped halfway through the 25.5km Col de la Madeleine climb as the Astana team of reigning champion Alberto Contador set a punishing pace.

As Schleck and Contador went on to duel to the summit, crossing over with a 2min 10sec deficit to a group of leaders, Evans battled up the rest of the climb to crest the summit 9:38 behind the frontrunners.

At the end of the 32km descent towards the finish line, Evans, the runner-up in both 2007 and 2008, finished over eight minutes behind stage winner Sandy Casar with Schelck inheriting the yellow jersey.

Evans broke down in tears in a teammates' arms after he crossed the line, distraught at seeing his 2010 Tour ambitions all but disappear.