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This story does not begin a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but rather in a smoky shed in suburban Newcastle one winter’s eve in 2007.
It was during those months in between having watched every episode of South Park on DVD but before we invested in Fox Sports and, with infomercials on every other channel, my housemates and I decided we’d give watching this bicycle racing business a go.
Sure, I’d heard of Cadel Evans before then – all Australians want to hear of one of our own doing well in sport, even if we don’t follow said sport or care about it in the slightest (how else would I know about Karrie Webb?). Stuart O’Grady, Robbie McEwen and Baden Cooke were all Aussie names thrown around come July, but more recently Cadel’s had bobbed up.
A fourth in the 2006 Tour, this year could be one where he went one better to end up on the podium and, in doing so, be the first Aussie to stand on the dais in Paris. But none of that really mattered at the time, we just wanted something to watch and the fact there was an Aussie to barrack for made it all the sweeter.
2007 was a tough year but as good an introduction to cycling as you could hope for. Cadel hammered his way around France with a team not quite as strong as the others but always looked the goods. Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin educated us on some of the finer points of racing and soon we realised that not wearing the yellow jersey was actually a good thing for most of the race – it was as much a target and a burden as a symbol of dominance.
Stage 16 was to prove a heartbreaking day during which Michael Rasmussen attacked on the Col d’Aubisque in a move Cadel could not follow, but the young Spaniard wearing white could. That heartbreak turned in to rage when the next day Rasmussen was kicked off the Tour and fired from his team for lying about his whereabouts in the months preceding the race.
The stench of doping had already invaded this Tour when pre-race favourite Alexandre Vinokourov of Astana was busted and Rasmussen’s team were not willing to risk their man winning the Tour, only to have it stripped from him after the race – the memories of Floyd Landis in 2005 were still too strong. The yellow jersey was taken from Rasmussen and handed to the young Spaniard riding for Team Discovery Channel.
All stories have a villain and this one is straight from the Don Raphael school – a swarthy, charming Spaniard with talent to burn. One of the great climbers of his generation with a vicious kick and unrelenting staying power. Best of all he was never far from controversy both on and off the bike. Alberto Contador.
Of course, in 2007 we had no idea about any of this.
He was just the yellow jersey wearer whom Cadel had three days to make less than a minute on. We all hoped Contador would capitulate in the penultimate day’s time trial, but during those 55.5kms Contador showed he was not only an amazing climber but he could time trial with the best of them.
Cadel cycled into Paris 23 seconds adrift of Contador’s yellow jersey and only eight seconds ahead of third placed American Levi Leipheimer, in what was the closest first through third finish in Tour history. Cadel stood on the podium in Paris – the first ever Australian to do so – and all of a sudden 2008’s tour could not come quickly enough.
But 2008 was to be a different story all together.
Cadel came in to the race as the raging favourite for one very good reason – Contador would not be riding.
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