2017 Outstanding Contribution to Sport Award
Cadel Evans

Cadel Evans is arguably Australia’s most famous, former professional racing cyclist. Evans won the prestigious Tour de France in 2011, making him one of only two non-Europeans to have won the Tour de France.

Cadel grew up in Armidale in New South Wales, before moving to Eltham, in Melbourne, Victoria. As a teenager, Cadel was an avid skateboard-enthusiast.

As a young adult, Cadel was a champion mountain biker. He won numerous titles, including the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing seventh in the men’s cross-country mountain bike race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Cadel is a four-time Olympian. He took up cycling full time in 2001 and in 2007 and 2008, he placed second in the Tour de France. He became the first Australian to win the UCI ProTour (2007) and the UCI Road World Championships in 2009. Finally, at age 34, he won the Tour de France in 2011, riding for BMC Racing Team. He was one of the oldest winners in the race’s history.

In 2015, inspired by Europe’s prestigious one-day classic races, the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race was founded and is now an annual event on the Victorian sporting calendar and attracts spectators lining the streets to get a glimpse of the professional’s as they race by.