Cadel Evans on what must change to make Vic roads safer for cyclists, as he moves back to Oz

Cycling great Cadel Evans believes attitudes towards cyclists in Australia are among the worst in the world and licences should be harder to get as drivers “lack awareness and concentration”.

Cycling legend Cadel Evans — who has revealed he will return home to Victoria permanently this year — believes attitudes towards cyclists in Australia are among the worst of developed nations, and Aussie drivers can “lack awareness and concentration”.

Speaking exclusively to the Herald Sun on Thursday, the first Australian to win the Tour de France called for more driver education before car licences were granted, saying the process in Australia was “quite short, compared to other countries around the world”.

Although cycling infrastructure was helpful, it was not more bike lanes that were needed, “because they don’t always get you where you need to go”, he said.

It was actually more education about cyclists’ rights to use the roads and longer, more comprehensive driver training that was needed, Evans said.

“I think attitudes and education is actually more important than infrastructure,” he said.

Cadel Evans is moving back to Victoria permanently in September. Picture: Supplied

Bike lanes were not the answer because they couldn’t be everywhere, Evans said.

Despite the fact Australia had so many wide, straight roads, Evans said he often felt safer riding on Europe’s typically narrower roads, even with higher speed limits, because driver attitudes towards cyclists were better and motorists had a greater of awareness of bikes.

Attitudes in America towards cyclists on roads were also typically better than in Australia, he said.

Evans watches on at day one of his namesake Victorian bike race. Picture: Getty

Daisy Pearce and Cadel Evans promote the Great Ocean Road Race. Picture: Alison Wynd

“Around the world you see varying attitudes towards that (cyclists on roads) and I was kind of hoping that things in Australia were improving, but evidently not,” Evans said, referring to the mowing down of two cyclists by a driver on Melbourne’s Beach Rd this week.

He said it would be a terrible shame if Victorians that cycled to work, school or elsewhere were deterred from doing so because of the Beach Rd incidents, out of general fear of being hit and hurt by cars or because of “people’s bad attitudes”.

“So of course (the Beach Rd incidents) are really disappointing in that regard,” he said.

In Europe, people were more used to cyclists on the road because so many more people rode bikes, as a means of everyday transport, Evans said.

Evans believes attitudes of Aussie drivers towards cyclists need to improve.

Evans riding in Europe, where he often feels safer on the roads. Picture: Supplied

But more and more Victorians were now cycling and there would be even greater numbers in the future, so attitudes had to change with the times, he said, adding bike riding could possibly be part of the solution to Melbourne’s Big Build traffic woes.

Evans — who is in Victoria for his namesake Great Ocean Road Race this week — is returning to live in the coastal town of Barwon Heads on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula, with his family, in September this year.

The children will be enrolled at the local public primary school, Evans said.

Evans with his youngest son in Stabio, Switzerland, in 2021. Picture: Supplied

Both children were loving spending time playing on Barwon Heads beach and could not wait to move to the coastal town permanently, from their current home in Switzerland, he said.

“Just to sit there and watch them play on the sand and be so happy. (Former Cats captain) Joel Selwood even ran by us and we gave him a nice little wave. It was lovely,” Evans said.

“The kids have had smiles on their faces since the minute they arrived.”

Evans has two boys, Aidan and Blake, with Italian ski instructor, Stefania.

“I’m embarrassed to say the boys are still on training wheels though,” Evans said of their cycling skills.

He has also helped raise his eldest son Robel, who was abandoned in the streets of Ethiopia as a baby and adopted by himself and his former wife, Chiara Passerini.

The major, Victorian five-day Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (CEGORR) cycling event kicked off on Wednesday and continues until Sunday, with different categories competing each day.

Thursday is the Surf Coast Classic.

The event is held across the Geelong, Surf Coast and Bellarine regions.

CEGORR event calendar

Wednesday 24 January – Geelong Classic (women’s midweek race)

Thursday 25 January – Surf Coast Classic (men’s midweek race)

Friday 26 January- Geelong-Port Family Ride

Saturday 27 January – TAC People’s Ride, Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race

Sunday 28 January – Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race Elite Men’s Race

What’s different this year?

The TAC People’s Ride courses have been updated this year to capture the very best of the Victorian region. Riders can now choose between two distances, the 113km Cadel Classic or the 59km Cadel’s Hometown.

The Cadel Evans family ride in 2023.

Both courses offer the chance for cyclists to ride with Cadel Evans himself, on the same roads used by the elite riders.

The TAC People’s Ride “warmed up the roads” ahead of the UCI World Tour Elite Men’s and the Deakin University Elite Women’s races, a race spokesman said.

“CEGORR provides a long weekend of action-packed cycling with the world’s best male and female teams and cyclists, as well as activities for the whole family including the mass participation in the Family Ride, TAC People’s Ride, teams presentation and entertaining live site on the Geelong foreshore,” he said.

Originally published as Cadel Evans on what must change to make Vic roads safer for cyclists, as he moves back to Oz