Cadel Evans was more than satisfied with his Dauphiné Libéré performance, but the fighter inside the Australian couldn’t be held back when he had a chance for victory.

The Predictor-Lotto captain couldn’t shake Christophe Moreau up the Col du Télégraphe in Saturday’s critical climbing stage and settled for second overall in his first crack at the Dauphiné.

“I still have room for improvement before the Tour. I changed my program this year. The past few years I raced the Tour de Suisse before the Tour, but this year we decided to come to the Dauphiné,” Evans said. “I’ll tell you in July which one is better.”

Evans, 30, is hoping to become the first Australian to finish on the Tour podium and improve on his fifth place overall from the 2006 Tour.

“That’s the plan. My greatest strength is my consistency,” Evans said. “I wasn’t holding back this week. I was close to the victory, but Moreau seems to be getting better with age.”

Evans goes into the Tour with consistent performances in his stage racing this season. Along with second at the Dauphiné, he was fourth at the Tour de Romandie in May and seventh in Paris-Nice in March.