Cadel – An Aussie Legend

I must admit that if I was badly injured I’d give myself license to take some time off my bike. Cadel Evans doesn’t quite see things that way.

Early in the eighth stage of the 2010 Tour de France Cadel and a number of other riders were involved in a fairly serious crash. Cadel was obviously pretty torn up but he got back on the bike and rode the rest of the tough stage from Station des Rousses to Morzine-Avoriaz which featured two very difficult climbs and an uphill finish. He didn’t just ride it, he excelled to the point that he catapulted himself into the race leader’s yellow jersey. The way he rode on that day caused us all to think that his injuries mustn’t have been as serious as they may have been. We all breathed a sigh of relief.

After the rest day Cadel lined up for the extremely difficult stage nine from Morzine-Avoriaz to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. His team mates set the pace for a large part of the stage but on the big climb of the day Cadel lost touch with Schleck and Contador, lost serious time and lost hope of winning the 2010 Tour de France.

What Cadel hadn’t told the public and hadn’t even told his team mates, was that in the fall early on stage eight he had fractured his elbow. Cadel had ridden into yellow on stage eight with a broken arm. He managed to to not only hold it all together on that stage, he excelled. Unfortunately stage nine was a stage too far and too hard for him to stay with riders like Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador who remain in scintillating form.

While Cadel was visibly distraught and in pain at the end of stage nine, he was clearly trying to be philosophical when he wrote his diary later in the day.

Tough old day here….I was hoping to be able to get through today, recover a bit for the Pyrenees and keep fighting. The last 48h had been a bit more taxing than I hoped though; both on the head and the legs. Oh well, that’s racing.

A HUGE thank you to all the BMC boys who showed what they’re made of today. The staff here at the Tour, they didn’t know their leader was starting with broken arm – I didn’t want to demoralize them. And, to everyone who supported me today even though I was way back. On a performance level, it’s obviously not where I want to be, but for everyone involved, this is why we have sport in our lives; to test ourselves at the limits without harming anyone….well, only temporarily….

Tomorrow is another day…

Gutsy effort Cadel.

I had truly hoped that 2010 would finally be Cadel’s year to win the Tour de France but it seems that’s not to be, but I can’t help admiring the fact that he always puts in 100% when he races. It must be devastating for him but what a hero.

Cadel, you’ve done your team mates and your country proud. You’re an absolute legend.

(You can hear my interview with Cadel Evans from November last year by clicking the play button on the audio player below.)

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