Cycling Interviews

Cadel Evans’ career in international cycling places him among the ranks of Australia’s greatest ever athletes. Born and raised in the Northern Territory Aboriginal community of Barunga, Evans spent a great deal of his youth in Geelong and Barwon Heads. He established his athletic credentials first as a mountain biker, winning back-to-back world championships in 1998–99 and competing in the men’s cross-country Olympic event in 1996 and 2000. Evans’ fateful transition to road racing in 2001 led to numerous titles and two further Olympic appearances in 2008 and 2012. Though it was his victory in the 2011 Tour de France that secured Evans’ pre-eminent position within both Australian and global sporting history. He is Australia’s only winner of the illustrious event, and one of only three non-Europeans to ever claim the title. Though retired since 2015, Evans remains an active member of the cycling community in the Geelong and Surf Coast area, and the Great Ocean Road Race that bears his name continues to attract elite cyclists to the region every year.