Cadel Evans life and biography

Cadel Lee Evans, born 14 February 1977 is an Australian professional racing cyclist for UCI Professional Continental team BMC Racing Team, and the reigning world road race champion. In 2007, Evans became the first Australian to win the UCI ProTour. He has the highest Tour de France finishes for an Australian, coming second in 2007 and 2008. Before turning to road cycling in 2001, Evans was a champion mountain biker, first riding for the Diamondback MTB team, then for the Volvo-Cannondale MTB team, winning the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing seventh in the men's cross-country mountain bike race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He became the first Australian to win the UCI Road World Championships cycling event on 27 September 2009 in Mendrisio, Switzerland.

Evans was born in Armidale, New South Wales, he is married to Chiara Passerini, an Italian music teacher whom he met at the end of 2002 after an introduction from a friend of her father's who assisted the Australian with lodgings near the training centre of his Mapei team (at the time). Evans inherited his surname from his great-grandfather who hailed from Wales. He also believes his first name is of Welsh origin. Evans attended Eltham High School in Melbourne, Victoria during his teenage years.

CAREER

Evans started his international career as a member of the Australian Institute of Sport MTB team, under head coach, Heiko Salzwedel and MTB coach Damien Grundy. He won silver medals at the 1997 and 1999 under-23 world championships and bronze medals at the 1995 junior world road time trial championship and junior world mountain bike championship.

He has ridden for Saeco (2001), Mapei (2002) and Team Telekom (2003–2004). For 2005 he joined Davitamon-Lotto and came eighth in his first Tour de France, the first Australian in the top ten since Phil Anderson.

Early successes included overall wins in the 2001 and 2004 editions of the Tour of Austria, fifth in the Deutschland Tour in 2005, a stage win of the Tour Down Under in 2002, winning the mountains classification in the Tour Down Under in 2006, 14th in the 2002 Giro d'Italia (he wore the leader's jersey, Maglia Rosa for one day), and Commonwealth Games time trial champion in 2002.

Evans bettered his performance in 2006, finishing fourth in the Tour de France, after the disqualification of Floyd Landis. He won the Tour de Romandie, beating the Spaniards Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde on the last stage, a 20 km time trial around Lausanne.

In the 2007 Tour de France, Evans finished runner-up to Contador. He won the stage 13 Time Trial and came second in the stage 19 Time Trial. Evans finished fourth in the 2007 Vuelta a Espana. He came fifth in the world championship and sixth in the final UCI ProTour race, the Giro di Lombardia, securing the 2007 UCI ProTour with 247 points ahead of Davide Rebellin and Alberto Contador.

In 2006 and 2007 he was named Australian Cyclist of the Year.

Evans was a favorite to win the 2008 Tour de France because Contador was not allowed to participate as his team Astana were not invited. Evans held the yellow jersey from stages 10 to 14. However, during Alpe d'Huez on stage 17, Carlos Sastre of Team CSC took 2 minutes 15 seconds from Evans. By the penultimate stage time trial, Evans needed to ride 1 minute 34 seconds faster than Sastre. He beat Sastre and jumped to second place but remained 58 seconds behind at the end of the Tour.

After recovering from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, Evans contested the 245 km mens road race at the Beijing Olympics, finishing 15th, 22 seconds behind Samuel Sánchez. He placed fifth in the road time trial four days later.

Social activism

In 2008, Evans wore a cycling undershirt with the Flag of Tibet and supported freedom for Tibet. He said:

Trying to bring awareness of the Tibet movement is something someone in my position can do. I just feel really sorry for them. They don't harm anyone and they are getting their culture taken away from them. I don't want to see a repeat of what happened to Aboriginal culture [in Australia] happen to another culture.

Evans won the men's World Championship road race in Mendrisio, Switzerland on 27 September. The win came shortly after his third placing in the Vuelta a España, during which he wore the gold leader's jersey for a day, although his race was marred by mechanical failure in the way up the Sierra Nevada mountain finish. Poor team support hampered his 2009 Tour de France campaign and he was only able to finish in 30th place, 45 minutes behind winner Alberto Contador. He also scored victories in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali.

The season saw Evans become one of Australia's most successful cyclists with two podium places at the Tour de France. He has joined an elite group of cyclists who have all worn all three leaders jerseys; the Maglia Rosa leaders jersey at the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) in 2002, the Yellow leaders jersey for 4 days in the 2008 Tour de France (Tour of France), and the Gold leaders Jersey in 2009 in the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain).

There was much speculation at the end of the 2009 season of Evans looking for a new team to better support him at the 2010 Tour. After Evans became world champion he seemed to commit himself fully to helping teammate Philippe Gilbert. To many, this was evidence of a happier relationship between Evans and Silence-Lotto. However, it was then revealed that Evans was to depart the team, with the team citing his reason for leaving was "to look for new challenges".

A biography, "Cadel Evans: Close To Flying", co-authored by Rob Arnold and Evans, was published by Hardie Grant Books in November 2009.

In 2010, Evans moved to the BMC Racing Team. He has since had success in the 2010 Fleche Wallonne and the held the Maglia Rosa after Stage 2 of the 2010 Giro d'Italia. Evans won stage seven of the Giro d'Italia with a dominating sprint from the front of a small group. Evans ended 5th overall, winning the Maglia Rosso Passione (Points Classification) and the Azzurri d'Italia Classification.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

1993
1st MaillotAustralia.PNG U-17 XC Australian MTB Champion
1994
1st MaillotAustralia.PNG U-19 XC Australian MTB Champion
2nd Silver medal blank.svg U-19 XC Mountain Bike World Championchips
1995
3rd Bronze medal blank.svg U-19 XC Mountain Bike World Championchips
3rd Bronze medal blank.svg Individual Time Trial Juniors World Championship
1996
1st MaillotAustralia.PNG XC Australian MTB Champion
3rd Bronze medal blank.svg U-23 XC Mountain Bike World Championchips
9th Atlanta Olympics Mountain Bike Race
1997
1st MaillotAustralia.PNG XC Australian MTB Champion
2nd Silver medal blank.svg U-23 XC Mountain Bike World Championchips
1998
1st Overall Mountain Bike World Cup
1999
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour of Tasmania

1st Stage 3

1st Jersey white.svg Young rider's competition Tour Down Under
1st Overall Mountain Bike World Cup
2nd Silver medal blank.svg U-23 XC Mountain Bike World Championchips
2000
7th Sydney Olympics Mountain Bike Cross Country
2001
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour of Austria
2nd Silver medal blank.svg Team Relay Mountain Bike World Championchips
2002
1st Gold medal blank.svg Individual Time Trial Commonwealth Games
1st Stage 5 Tour Down Under

1st Jersey white.svg King Mountains Competition

1st Stage 1 Settimana Ciclistica Internazionale
1st Stage 4 International UNIQA Classic
2nd Silver medal blank.svg Road Race Commonwealth Games
3rd Overall Tour de Romandie
14th Overall Giro d'Italia

Held Jersey pink.svg Maglia Rosa for Stage 16-17

2003
1st Jersey white.svg King Mountains Competition Tour Down Under
2004
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour of Austria

1st Stage 2

2005
1st Stage 7 Deutschland Tour
8th Overall Tour de France

4th Stage 16

2006
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour de Romandie

1st Stage 5

1st Jersey white.svg King Mountains Competition Tour Down Under
4th Overall Tour de France
7th Overall Tour of California
2007
Champion UCI ProTour
1st Stage 2 ITT Test Event Beijing 2008
1st Stage 1 Part B TTT Settimana Ciclistica Internazionale Coppi-Bartali
2nd Overall Tour de France

1st Stage 13

2nd Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
4th Overall Vuelta a España
4th Overall Tour de Romandie
6th Giro di Lombardia
2008
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Settimana internazionale di Coppi e Bartali

1st Stage 3

1st Stage 4 Paris-Nice
2nd Overall, Tour de France

Held Maillot Jaune Jersey yellow.svg From Stages 10-14

2nd La Flèche Wallonne
2nd Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
3rd Overall Vuelta a Andalucía

1st Stage 2

7th Liège-Bastogne-Liège
2009
1st MaillotMundial.PNG Road Race World Champion
2nd Overall Settimana internazionale di Coppi e Bartali

1st Stage 5

2nd Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré

1st Stage 1
1st Jersey green.svg Points classification

3rd Overall Vuelta a España

Held Jersey gold.svg Jersey Oro for Stage 8
Held Jersey white.svg Maillot Combinada from Stages 8-11

4th Overall Vuelta al País Vasco
5th La Flèche Wallonne
2010
1st La Flèche Wallonne
3rd Overall, Tirreno-Adriatico
5th Overall, Giro d'Italia

1st Stage 7
1st Jersey red.svg Points Classification
1st Azzurri d'Italia Classification
Held Maglia Rosa for Stage 2

5th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
6th Overall Tour Down Under

Jersey red.svg Most Aggressive rider Stage 5

Tour de France

Held Maillot Jaune Jersey yellow.svg for Stage 9

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