Cadel Evans in yellow was meant to be

FROM the very first time I followed Cadel Evans in a road race, I knew straight away he was something special, writes Phil Liggett 

FROM the very first time I followed Cadel Evans in a road race, I knew straight away he was something special and that he would win the Tour de France one day.

I'd come to Australia in 1998 to commentate on the Tour of Tasmania.

I was in the car driving out of Hobart with Phil Anderson, the first Aussie to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France.

We had been following Neil Stephens, himself a seasoned professional from Canberra and a Tour stage winner, on the climb to the top of Mt Wellington.

Then out of the rear-vision mirror I spotted a young rider, who turned out to be Cadel Evans, simply motoring up the climb.

He was that good that day that Stephens could not stick on Evans' back wheel.

I later found out he was in the race to train for his first love -- mountain biking.

Both Phil and I sought him out at the end of the stage and talked to him about the possibility of him switching to the road full-time.

He simply told us that he had made a commitment to his then sponsor, which was Volvo, that he'd think about it, but not before racing for Australia at the Sydney Olympics.

Evans switched the year after the Games and joined Saeco, a small team in Italy, winning the Tour of Austria for the first time.

I've since had the pleasure of watching Cadel mature into a superb all-round road racer, including cheering him on to win the world championship in Switzerland 18 months ago. In between, I've also watched from the commentary box his two near-misses at the Tour as well as the disappointment of crashing a year ago, breaking an elbow in the process, ending his hopes of another podium finish.

Never once did I hear him whinge or complain. He just got on with the job and finished in Paris. He came to the Tour this year having wisely reduced the number of race days on his calendar. His form included a strong second for the fourth time at the Dauphine Libere.

In my book, he had never prepared better for a tilt at the overall classification at the Tour as I watched him ride at the front and stay out of trouble from the opening day.

He was only ever out of the top three on one day, when he slipped to fourth in the general classification.

His BMC teammates led by George Hincapie made sure he was always thereabouts at the business end of the stage finishes in the high Alps.

When it came to the time trial in Grenoble on Saturday, I just knew he was up for the fight. It was obvious to me 57 seconds was too slender a lead for Andy Schleck.

In the end it was the German Tony Martin who took the day's honours, but in the process Evans simply destroyed the Schlecks.

While at times he may wear his heart on his sleeve, the way in which he launched the most telling of attacks against the clock on Saturday suggests to me we've not seen or heard the last of Cadel Evans.