1. Cadel Lee Evans is an Australian former professional racing cyclist who competed professionally in both mountain biking and road bicycle racing.
68 Facts About Cadel Evans
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Cadel Evans turned to full-time road cycling in 2001, and gradually progressed through the ranks.
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Cadel Evans finished second in the Tour de France in 2007 and 2008.
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Cadel Evans became the first Australian to win the UCI ProTour and the UCI Road World Championships in 2009.
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Cadel Evans took the race lead on the penultimate day, after completing a 42.5-kilometre individual time trial some two-and-a-half minutes quicker than his closest rivals, Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck.
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Cadel Evans made the podium in the 2009 Vuelta a Espana and the 2013 Giro d'Italia.
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Cadel Evans retired on 1 February 2015, after completing a race named in his honour.
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Cadel Evans was born on 14 February 1977 at the Katherine District Hospital, Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia, to Helen, a bank manager, and Paul Evans, a council foreman.
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Cadel Evans spent his early childhood in the small Aboriginal community of Barunga, 80 kilometres east of Katherine.
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Cadel Evans attended Newling Public School in Armidale, and Eltham High School in Melbourne.
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Cadel Evans's father describes him as a good student, but otherwise just an ordinary kid who would leave his toys around; "Not in [my] wildest dreams" would he imagine that his son would become a top world athlete.
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Cadel Evans won bronze medals at the 1995 Junior world mountain bike championship and Junior world road time trial championship, and silver medals at the 1997 and 1999 under-23 world championships.
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Cadel Evans won the cross-country event in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in both 1998 and 1999.
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In March 2017, Cadel Evans was back on a mountain bike and competing in the Masters category at the eight-day Cape Epic stage race in South Africa over 641 kilometres.
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Cadel Evans had a breakthrough road cycling performance at the 1999 Tour of Tasmania, where commentator Phil Liggett famously proclaimed that Evans would win the Tour de France one day.
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In 2006, Cadel Evans started the season by winning the mountains classification in the Tour Down Under.
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Cadel Evans won the Tour de Romandie, beating Spanish riders Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde on the last stage, a 20-kilometre time trial around Lausanne.
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Cadel Evans finished fifth in the Tour de France but was promoted to fourth after the disqualification of apparent winner Floyd Landis due to a failed drug test.
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Cadel Evans won the stage 13 individual time trial and came second in the stage 19 individual time trial.
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Cadel Evans came fifth in the world championship and sixth in the final UCI ProTour race, the Giro di Lombardia.
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Cadel Evans was again named Australian Cyclist of the Year.
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The 2008 season saw Cadel Evans become one of Australia's most successful cyclists after consecutive podium places at the Tour de France.
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Cadel Evans was a favourite to win the Tour de France because Contador was not allowed to participate as his team Astana were not invited.
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Cadel Evans held the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification from stages 10 to 14.
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Cadel Evans beat Sastre and jumped to second place but remained 58 seconds behind at the end of the Tour.
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Cadel Evans placed fifth in the road time trial four days later.
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In 2009, Cadel Evans won the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali Criterium du Dauphine Libere.
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Cadel Evans finished third overall in the Vuelta a Espana, 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.
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Cadel Evans joined an elite group of cyclists who have all worn all three leaders jerseys; the pink jersey for the leader of the general classification in the Giro d'Italia in 2002, the yellow jersey for the leader of the general classification in the Tour de France for 4 days in the 2008 Tour de France, and the gold jersey for the leader of the general classification in the Vuelta a Espana.
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Cadel Evans was awarded Australian Cyclist of the Year for the third time.
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However, it was then revealed that Cadel Evans was to depart the team, who cited his reason for leaving as "to look for new challenges".
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Cadel Evans had success in La Fleche Wallonne and he led the general classification after Stage 2 of the Giro d'Italia.
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Cadel Evans won stage seven of the race with a dominating sprint from the front of a small group, after resisting numerous attacks from Alexander Vinokourov in the final 10 kilometres.
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Cadel Evans finished the Giro 5th overall, winning the points classification and the Azzurri d'Italia classification.
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Cadel Evans held the yellow jersey for stage nine of the Tour de France while riding with a hairline fracture in his left elbow caused during a crash in the previous stage.
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Cadel Evans lost significant time to the leaders during stage nine, which lost him the yellow jersey and put him out of serious contention for overall victory.
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Cadel Evans ended the tour in 26th place, 50 minutes and 27 seconds behind Alberto Contador.
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Cadel Evans finished second on stage one of the Tour de France, and won stage 4, the third Tour de France stage win of his career.
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Cadel Evans then led the mountains classification after stage 4 for a single day.
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Cadel Evans again led the peloton to pull back the contender group, keeping himself within striking distance for overall victory by remaining just under a minute behind Andy Schleck.
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Cadel Evans' win elicited much celebration in his home nation with calls for a national holiday as his win was compared to that of the 1983 America's Cup which was considered Australia's greatest sporting achievement.
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Cadel Evans was victorious on the second stage, a 6.5-kilometre individual time trial, and held on to his lead in the final stage, grabbing the Points classification jersey.
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Cadel Evans took a prestigious victory on stage 1 of the Criterium du Dauphine after attacking on the last descent, catching and out sprinting the two men who were at the front of the race, Jerome Coppel and Andrey Kashechkin.
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Cadel Evans finished in third position in the general classification, with the points classification jersey on his shoulders.
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Cadel Evans started the Tour de France with high hopes of a repeat performance from 2011.
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On stage 7, Cadel Evans showed great form by finishing second atop La Planche des Belles Filles, registering the same time as rival Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky, the latter grabbing the yellow jersey.
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Cadel Evans then lost a substantial amount of time on the ninth stage individual time trial, coming in sixth place with a deficit of one minute and forty-three seconds on the winner Wiggins.
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Cadel Evans lost another minute and 26 seconds to the race leader.
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Cadel Evans dropped out of contention on stage 16, where he lost contact with the leaders on the penultimate climb, was paced back by teammates on the descent only to be dropped again on the Col de Peyresourde.
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Cadel Evans slipped to seventh overall, and behind van Garderen.
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Cadel Evans lost further time on the last time trial to Chartres, where he was overtaken on the road by van Garderen, despite setting out three minutes ahead of him; he cited illness to explain his performance.
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Cadel Evans finished the Tour in seventh position, 15 minutes and 49 seconds down on winner Wiggins and stated that he would be back as BMC's leader in 2013.
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Cadel Evans was selected in the Australian teams for the road race and time trial at the London Olympics.
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However, after making no impact in the road race, Cadel Evans withdrew from the time trial citing fatigue.
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Cadel Evans lost his second place on the last mountain stage, climbing to Tre Cime di Lavaredo, which was hindered by snowfall.
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Cadel Evans still managed to finish third in the general classification.
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Cadel Evans was the designated leader of his team in the Tour de France, but he encountered major difficulties as he was constantly dropped from the leading group in mountainous stages.
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The Tour concluded in a major disappointment for Team BMC, as Cadel Evans took 39th place and Van Garderen finished 45th while Briton Chris Froome won the overall classification.
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In September 2014, Cadel Evans announced that he would retire in February 2015.
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Cadel Evans then became the Global Ambassador for the BMC Racing Team.
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In 2005, Cadel Evans married Chiara Passerini, an Italian pianist and music teacher he met at the end of 2002.
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Cadel Evans proposed to her after his first Tour de France.
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Cadel Evans's grandfather was from Wales, and so he was named "Cadel Evans" in honour of three Welsh kings.
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Cadel Evans was made a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia on 10 June 2013.
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In 2008, Cadel Evans wore a cycling undershirt with the Flag of Tibet and supported freedom for Tibet.
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Cadel Evans is a four-time winner of the Sir Hubert Opperman Trophy, awarded to the Australian cyclist of the year.
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On 10 June 2013, Cadel Evans was honoured as a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia.
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In 2020, Cadel Evans was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.