Huge congratulations to Cadel Evans

No_Ta_Doctor

I like him and am very pleased for him. In spite of the fact that he speaks like an Australian Mickey Mouse.

Rode his arse off to win, gutsy and determined.

dave milne

absolute don. deserved some luck at the end, he's always had the talent and it all came together.

and to those who say no panache? as has been said in this thread already, his two chases were incredible. didn't ask for any help or moan about the lack of it at the end.

Continuing with the assumption that he's clean, how good was his 2007 performance looking at the riders around him?

hstiles

1 stage win, 9 top 5 stage finishes and an amazing individual time trial. A well earned victor in my book.

mrushton

Never dropped below 4th place the whole TdF. Criticised by nobodies on here but Robert Millar got it spot on.

dennisn

Cressers wrote:

Evans only did what he needed to do to win, he has no panache.

So, kicking ass and winning the TDF equals "no panache"? You're right, he "....only did what he needed to do....". Is there anything else he should have been doing those 3 weeks? You're pretty hopeless if someone winning the TDF isn't enough for you.

mrushton

Plus he won various races throughout the year and maintained a spot in the top 3 for most of the TdF. The sisters were riding around holding hands and Andrea blubbing about the cold and descents, which must be like raising a white flag to some of the riders in the peloton

lloyd_bower

dave milne wrote:

absolute don. deserved some luck at the end, he's always had the talent and it all came together.

and to those who say no panache? as has been said in this thread already, his two chases were incredible. didn't ask for any help or moan about the lack of it at the end.

Continuing with the assumption that he's clean, how good was his 2007 performance looking at the riders around him?

Yeah, I felt at the time Evans would have been a fair winner in '07, much of Contador's overall time gap was from a dual Rasmussen/Contador attack on one of the late climbs that year.

Also look at those ahead of him in 2005!!
Name Team Time
1 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel 86h 15' 02"
2 Ivan Basso (ITA) Team CSC + 4' 40"
3 Jan Ullrich (GER) T-Mobile Team + 6' 21"
4 Francisco Mancebo (ESP) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne + 9' 59"
5 Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ) T-Mobile Team + 11' 01"
6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner + 11' 21"
7 Michael Rasmussen (DEN) Rabobank + 11' 33"
8 Cadel Evans (AUS) Davitamon-Lotto

frenchfighter

AP

Oz Chief

I didn't start watching cycling until 2007, so I have a history question.

Who was Cadel's win similar to?

Is it like say Indurain's after his TT effort, although he did win a hilly stage.

Hopefully some historians can provide some insight.

RichN95.

Oz Chief wrote:

I didn't start watching cycling until 2007, so I have a history question.

Who was Cadel's win similar to?

Is it like say Indurain's after his TT effort, although he did win a hilly stage.

Hopefully some historians can provide some insight.

I'd say it was quite like Stephen Roche.

He had to work hard, largely on his own, to limit loses on a mountain stage. He gained time on a tricky downhill. He blitzed the final TT.

lostboysaint

frenchfighter wrote:

AP

To paraphrase Mrs Merton - "So Mrs Evans, what was it that attracted you to multi-millionaire cyclist Cadel?"