Cuddles calls it a day

reallyarunner

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/29370959

Been on the cards for a while now, those GTs wont be the same without him...

Possibly the greatest clean GT rider of his generation...

Retirement has been on the cards for a while now but shame to see it confirmed, kind of like ending a romance that you both know has been loveless for a while....

RichN95.

Yellow Peril

winning the Worlds was a watershed for Evans. Before he was considered a whingeing wheelsucker but there was a transformation in his riding that day and he rode with guts thereafter. Best wishes to him in his retirement

joelsim

How can such a miserable bloke garner this much love? Are there any riders who enjoyed working for him? Also don't forget he had links with Ferrari/Rominger etc. He's probably my least favourite rider in the current peloton.

I do respect him for adopting his son, on the other hand.

chrisday

Yellow Peril wrote:

winning the Worlds was a watershed for Evans. Before he was considered a whingeing wheelsucker but there was a transformation in his riding that day and he rode with guts thereafter. Best wishes to him in his retirement

His career in a nutshell - nicely put, YP. Seemed to be a transformative day for him in terms of confidence, and in many people's perception of him; such a gutsy ride!

einriba

Cuddles highlight for me was the interview where someone nearly stepped on his dog. Cadels reaction is amazing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fe79ZuDKfk

ContrelaMontre

Joelsim wrote:

How can such a miserable bloke garner this much love? Are there any riders who enjoyed working for him? Also don't forget he had links with Ferrari/Rominger etc. He's probably my least favourite rider in the current peloton.

I do respect him for adopting his son, on the other hand.

I don't think you'll find Cadel has any links to Ferrari. Provide some evidence if I am mistaken

joelsim

Widely reported that he used him 'for training' round about the time he switched to road racing.

ContrelaMontre

Joelsim wrote:

Widely reported that he used him 'for training' round about the time he switched to road racing.

Widely rubbished though wasn't it?

einriba

Here's Cadel's stance on it all: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/20025582

salsiccia1

RichN95 wrote:

[img][/img]

My favourite GT stage in recent years.

Also agree with Yellow Peril, his Worlds win made his later career. Showed what a brave and honest rider he actually is, and he proved that often.

Jez mon

Joelsim wrote:

How can such a miserable bloke garner this much love? Are there any riders who enjoyed working for him? Also don't forget he had links with Ferrari/Rominger etc. He's probably my least favourite rider in the current peloton.

I do respect him for adopting his son, on the other hand.

Difficult character, wildly overstated links to a dodgy doctor. Wiggins is retiring?

Art Vandelay

ContrelaMontre wrote:

Joelsim wrote:

How can such a miserable bloke garner this much love? Are there any riders who enjoyed working for him? Also don't forget he had links with Ferrari/Rominger etc. He's probably my least favourite rider in the current peloton.

I do respect him for adopting his son, on the other hand.

I don't think you'll find Cadel has any links to Ferrari. Provide some evidence if I am mistaken

No, Cadel did contact and work with Ferrari - he admits it himself but states it was only for a training test:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/evans-c ... ri-in-2000

Cadel's restaurant night out with Wegelius is (probably) a lot more damning.

RichN95.

Art Vandelay wrote:

Cadel's restaurant night out with Wegelius is (probably) a lot more damning.

Mind you, Wegelius thinks the sun shines out of Di Luca's arse, so he's probably not the best judge of a man.

RichN95.

Joelsim wrote:

Widely reported that he used him 'for training' round about the time he switched to road racing.

If a German newspaper getting him confused with Mick Rogers is the best evidence you have then I'd say you're overstretching to find things to support conclusion you want.
No mention of his career long association with Aldo Sassi (the anti-Ferrari) though.

einriba

Another of the best Cadel moments "don't touch me!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FikzgWE3t0A

tom3

Fair play to him for getting stuck in to his final season, remaining competitive in some stages and at least giving it a go. Also, wearing the same pair of shoes for more than one race and not bothering to have film crew to depict piss poor performances all year.

salsiccia1

tom3 wrote:

Fair play to him for getting stuck in to his final season, remaining competitive in some stages and at least giving it a go. Also, wearing the same pair of shoes for more than one race and not bothering to have film crew to depict wee-wee poor performances all year.

Arf

DeVlaeminck

However good he was and however difficult he was to work with I admire him for getting as much from his career as he could. He spent much of his career banging his head against a wall as he was beaten by less talented dopers and he lost one tour due to having no team support when Sastre rode off - though arguably Evans was too stubborn in refusing to chase earlier.

Ultimately though he didn't give up and the wins that he deserved came - his approach to his career was like his riding style - dogged and determined. His retirement comes only when it is obvious he no longer has the capacity to compete - he's wrung his talent dry. He was there in classics and grand tours giving it a go and while rarely the absolute favourite he seemed to work on the basis that if you keep buying tickets eventually your number will come up.

Compared to Wiggins (another rider most of us consider clean) I think Wiggins edges it on talent and while it's hard to say Wiggins underachieved given what he's won I can't help buy think Evans would not be going into semi retirement if he still had the legs to beat Tony Martin in a time trial.

manic_esso

Anyone think he might have been more successful if he'd had better teams around him earlier in his career ? He seemed to get the the results he got in spite of the team he was in rather than because of it from what I can remember

joelsim

manic_esso wrote:

Anyone think he might have been more successful if he'd had better teams around him earlier in his career ? He seemed to get the the results he got in spite of the team he was in rather than because of it from what I can remember

Possibly cause & effect. He may have rubbed others up the wrong way like he did with CW. I wouldn't put it past him as seeing his face winds me up. He's the only cyclist who has that effect on me (except Lance of course).

phreak

I like Cuddles as he makes riding up mountains look as hard as it is for all of us. He's rarely been the most flamboyant of riders, and some may question his character, but I admire his cussedness and determination.

ContrelaMontre

He also wears nice shoes.

arran77

He's alright in my books because he came from a mountain bike background before moving over to the dark side

1996
9th Atlanta Olympics, Mountain Bike Race

1998
1st Overall, Mountain Bike World Cup

1999
1st Overall, Mountain Bike World Cup

2000
7th Sydney Olympics, Mountain Bike Cross Country

Macaloon

DeVlaeminck wrote:

However good he was and however difficult he was to work with I admire him for getting as much from his career as he could. He spent much of his career banging his head against a wall as he was beaten by less talented dopers and he lost one tour due to having no team support when Sastre rode off - though arguably Evans was too stubborn in refusing to chase earlier.

Ultimately though he didn't give up and the wins that he deserved came - his approach to his career was like his riding style - dogged and determined. His retirement comes only when it is obvious he no longer has the capacity to compete - he's wrung his talent dry. He was there in classics and grand tours giving it a go and while rarely the absolute favourite he seemed to work on the basis that if you keep buying tickets eventually your number will come up.

Agree with all of this. His Tour win was bitter-sweet: finally a clean enough peloton for his talent to shine just at the point his talent started to decline. I hope he takes his revenge on the sport; in writing.

RichN95.

arran77 wrote:

He's alright in my books because he came from a mountain bike background before moving over to the dark side

Some mountain bike trivia for you (which may already know). You may have seen that in mountain bike World Cup they have the top five on the podium rather than the top three.

The origins for this come from a MTB World Cup race in Cairns in 1994 where a 17 year old debutant Australian came 5th and the race organiser was so impressed by this youthful talent that he asked for the podium to be extended to five to acknowledge him. And they've had five man podiums ever since (because the sponsors liked it).

And that 17 year old was Cadel Evans - and here's that podium (he's on the left)

NervexProf

A fascinating tribute to Cadel here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=367YyCSnOWM

iainf72

Like I said yesterday, the guy won

1) The best Tour of the last decade.
2) The best single stage of a grand Tour for a decade
3) Best worlds victory for a while

And he's a proper bike racer. I suspect if you published sepia photos of him suffering and pretended he was from the 50's a lot of people who hate him would have a full jones for him

The Ferrari link always makes me laugh. You may as well say Lemond was a Ferrari customer.

heavymental

Basically he's just a good guy isn't he. Down to earth and didn't deserve all the sht that came with his success. After all, he just wanted to race bikes.

salsiccia1

iainf72 wrote:

Like I said yesterday, the guy won

1) The best Tour of the last decade.
2) The best single stage of a grand Tour for a decade
3) Best worlds victory for a while

And he's a proper bike racer. I suspect if you published sepia photos of him suffering and pretended he was from the 50's a lot of people who hate him would have a full jones for him

The Ferrari link always makes me laugh. You may as well say Lemond was a Ferrari customer.

All this.

reallyarunner

Some great photos posted earlier in the thread and great comments too.

My enduring memory of Cadel will be him dragging the GC contenders after Andy Shleck up the Galibier and turning a tour losing 4 minute plus deficit to a potentially tour winning loss of just over a minute.

The peloton will be poorer without him.