Tour de France organisers on Monday handed Australian rider Cadel Evans of the Silence team the number one bib. The bib is traditionally reserved for the winner of the previous year's Tour de France or his team.

Evans, runner-up in the 2007 Tour de France, has benefited from the absence of last year's winner Alberto Contador of Spain and the dissolution of his Discovery Channel team.

Last year, for the first time in the race's history, the top bib number started at 11 as organisers decided to leave out one - 10 owing to American Floyd Landis's absence from the race as he awaited an arbitration decision.

AFP