Tour Down Under: Cadel Evans wings into Adelaide ready for one last ride of his life

AUSTRALIA’S greatest cyclist Cadel Evans arrived in Adelaide on Monday admitting he was emotional about what will be the last WorldTour race of his career.

Cadel Evans arrives tonight for tour Down Under

AUSTRALIA’S greatest ever cyclist Cadel Evans arrived in Adelaide on Monday night admitting he was emotional about what will be the last WorldTour race of his career.

The 37-year-old Tour de France champion said any disappointment of missing out on the national road title in Ballarat on Sunday had been tempered by knowing it was a “good stepping stone” towards avenging his one-second loss to Simon Gerrans in last year’s TDU.

Evans said he was pleased to hear news that there would be no changes to this year’s race route, which was threatened by last week’s bushfire in the hills, because it hopefully meant the damage was not too severe.

Flanked by BMC teammate Campbell Flakemore, media manager Georges Luchinger and sports director Fabio Baldato, Evans said while he was focused on trying to win the race, the reality that it would be his last at WorldTour level had hit him.

Evans will officially retire after a race named in his honour along the Great Ocean Road on February 1.

Race director Mike Turtur meets Cadel Evans at the airport.

“I’m looking forward to it, a bit of relaxation and a little bit less stress in my life but before the national championships I was like ‘oh tomorrow it’s going to be my last chance of having a national championship jersey’ and that was sometimes a little bit emotional that’s for sure,” Evans said.

“But also I always aim to do everything I could with the opportunity as a professional bike rider and of course there’s a couple of 0.1 per centers that I could have done better in the last 20 years but really not many so it’s not like I walk away from high level competition with any regrets.”

Evans remembers riding the inaugural TDU in 1999 and since then the growth of the sport in Australia has been phenomenal.

“I’d like to think that’s partly because of my results but also the work of Tour Down Under, the people of Adelaide, the people who come to Adelaide to support and make the ambience of the race,” he said of the week-long stage race.

“I rode the first four or five Tour Down Under’s, I was there in the very first circuit race around the park and I remember the people who came out to see that first day and it’s still a great race to ride and even more popular and cycling is seen in a different light in this country now.”

Originally published as Tour Down Under: Cadel Evans wings into Adelaide ready for one last ride of his life