Dare to Dream...
As a young junior on the Aussie MTB scene, it was startlingly clear that Cadel Evans had something special. Picked up by Team Apollo, he excelled at both downhill and cross-country, although XC was his forte.
As a multiple national champion in the junior ranks, his lap times were often faster than the best of the elite men. He then collected a silver medal at the 1994 U19 WorldMTBChampionships and at just 17 years of age finished fifth in the senior ranks at theCairnsround of theUCIWorld Cup—this kid had one hell of an engine under the hood!
What followed was a six year career as one of the worlds best XC mountain bike riders, winning the World Cup Series in 98 and 99, as well as two silver medal rides in the U23 World Championships.
Throughout this time Evans dabbled on the road and successfully blew everyone away on Mt Wellington in the 1998 Tour of Tasmania. His effort destroyed established pros like Neil Stephens and his power output figures stunned AIS sports scientists. Aged just 21, he produced six watts per kilogram of body weight during 12km climb. Sceptical of such figures, the AIS had him tested in Canberra where he proceeded to replicate the performance in the lab—he even had to do it twice as they couldn’t believe it!
According to AIS sports scientist Dave Martin, his test figures were the best he’d ever seen, and that includes data from seven times Tour winner Lance Armstrong.
Turning full time to the road in 2001 Cadel announced his arrival by winning the Tour of Austria and wearing the Maglia Rosa for a day in the high mountains of the 2002 Giro d’ Italia. From there his progression has been consistent, although interrupted intermittently by what seemed to be an unfair share of injury and team troubles.
Born with remarkable physiology, Cadel’s crowning asAustralia’s first Tour de France champion is the culmination of 20 years of racing history. Here’s a snapshot his career highlights…
1993
1st U17 XC AustralianMTBChampion
1994
1st U19 XC AustralianMTBChampion
2nd U19 XC Mountain Bike World Championships
1995
3rd U19 XC Mountain Bike World Championships
3rd Individual Time Trial Junior World Championship
1996
1st XC AustralianMTBChampion
3rd U23 XC Mountain Bike World Championships
9thAtlantaOlympics,MTBCross-Country
1997
1st XC AustralianMTBChampion
2nd U23 XC Mountain Bike World Championships
1998
1st Mountain Bike World Cup
1999
1st Overall Tour ofTasmania
1st Young rider’s competition, Tour Down Under
1st Mountain Bike World Cup
2nd U23 XC Mountain Bike World Championships
2000
7th OlympicMTBCross-Country, Sydney
2001
1st Tour ofAustria
2002
1st Stage 5, Tour Down Under
1st Stage 1, Settimana Ciclistica Internazionale
1st Stage 4, International UNIQA Classic
1st Road Time Trial, Commonwealth Games
2nd Road Race, Commonwealth Games
2004
1st Tour ofAustria
2005
8th Overall, Tour de France
2006
1st Tour de Romandie
4th Tour de France (revised after Floyd Landis was disqualified)
2007
UCIProTour Champion
1st Test Event Beijing 2008
2nd Tour de France
2ndDauphineLibere
4th Tour ofSpain
2nd Tour ofPoland
4th Tour de Romandie
6th Giro di Lombardia
7th Paris-Nice
2008
