Cadel was in year seven when he moved to Victoria with his mum. They lived in Plenty, an outer suburb of Melbourne. With its open green spaces, hills and trails, Plenty was the perfect place for a bike-obsessed kid.
Cadel spent hours out riding with his cousin Jarrah. Both boys loved riding fast. They would time each other to see who could ride around the block or down the next hill fastest. Although he and Jarrah were only mucking around, it was during these races that Cadel discovered he had a real competitive spirit. He would always give his best and loved to win.
Cadel soon discovered mountain biking. It was the perfect sport for him. It combined his love of being outside in nature with his burning desire to go seriously fast. Luckily for Cadel, mountain biking really took off in Australia around the time he was in his final years of school at Eltham High.
Mountain biking—the new sport
Mountain biking became an official sport in Australia during the 1990s. People rode bikes cross-country or down mountains long before then, of course. But they just did it for fun. There were no rules or special bikes. American companies built the first mountain bikes in the 1970s and 1980s. These bikes had stronger, heavier frames and fatter tyres than ordinary road bikes. They also had suspension to minimise shock when riding over rough terrain. Mountain biking moved quickly from a hobby to an official sport once it had its own identity and its own gear. Along with this new status came race series, prize money and pro cycling teams. The very first mountain bike World Championships took place in Colorado, USA, in 1990.
The very first mountain biking world champion was Ned Overend. Overend and others, like legendary American rider John Tomac, were early heroes of Cadel’s. These international stars of the sport showed Cadel that mountain biking could become a career.
In Australia, keen mountain bikers started to organise race series. Like the overseas events, the local races were held over several days. They usually included downhill and cross-country categories for both junior and professional—or elite—riders.
The first race Cadel ever entered was held at Blue Lake, close to his home in Plenty. Cadel didn’t come close to winning, but that didn’t put him off. The experience of racing thrilled him. A dream was born at that first race. It was a dream that Cadel would fiercely fight for. He was going to try to be the best mountain biker in the world.
SBS Television started broadcasting the Tour de France road bike race in the early 1990s. At the time, Cadel was into mountain bikes. But as someone who loved to ride, Cadel was glued to the race anyway. In those years Spanish rider Miguel Indurain was the star of the Tour, having won five Tours in a row. Cadel admired Indurain’s awesome athleticism and how modest and dignified the Spanish star seemed.
The Swiss cyclist Tony Rominger was another athlete Cadel followed closely. Rominger placed second to Indurain in the 1993 Tour and broke many records in other major races too.
When Rominger came to Australia for a Melbourne–Mt Buller race, Cadel got the opportunity to see one of the best riders in the world in action. Cadel never forgot what it was like.
Watching his road bike heroes race planted a new dream somewhere deep inside Cadel. Perhaps one day he could race in the Tour de France too.
Cadel’s confidence grew after his second mountain bike race at Kinglake, Victoria. This national park area was known for its challenging and spectacular rides. It was there that Cadel achieved his first-ever victory. From then on, he won races on the junior circuit regularly.
Cadel’s trademark intensity and passion for his sport took shape during his teenage years. Between races, he would train on the mountain bike trails near his home.
The elite riders of the time had training programs that included exercises like ‘intervals’, a kind of training that mixes bursts of speed with rest periods to improve performance. Without really knowing what he was doing, teenage Cadel did the same type of training as the pros.
He rode circuits around his neighbourhood covering roughly the same distance as he would in a race. He had his favourite loops and he knew how long each ride would take. Every time he rode, he challenged himself to go faster and faster. He also worked on his nutrition and went to the library for books on the subject. Even as a teenager, he poured hours of serious thought, training and thorough preparation into his sport.
Cadel displayed such talent on the junior circuit that it was clear to everyone what his career would be. Still, Cadel didn’t ignore his schooling. He juggled studying and riding, managing to do okay at school despite putting most of his energy into his bike. He was good at maths except for algebra and fine at science apart from chemical equations. He gave up French early on at school, telling his mum, that as he never planned to go to France, he would never need to speak the language.
Subjects like media studies and physical education were more appealing to Cadel. Physical education even involved some mountain biking. Media studies suited his interest in film and television production. If mountain biking didn’t work out, he liked the idea of being a television camera operator.
Cadel’s teachers supported his sporting ambitions even if it meant he wasn’t the best student. They understood that if he was late for school it wasn’t because he was lazy. More likely he’d been up before dawn to go on a long training ride. They knew Cadel didn’t spend his time partying or hanging out with girls. He wanted to be the best rider he could be.
To the teachers, Cadel’s motivation, dedication and passion for riding showed. And if there was any doubt, the Eltham High yearbook clearly recorded his ambition: ‘To be the mountain bike world champion.’
When he wasn’t at school, Cadel threw himself into racing. He asked his dad for a new bike and was surprised when he got the $500 he needed to buy it. By today’s standards, Cadel’s new bike was pretty basic. It was very heavy and had neither front nor rear suspension. None of that mattered though. That $500 bike took Cadel from just a talented amateur to a champion. It would turn out to be the last bike he ever paid full price for.
It wasn’t long before Cadel’s skills were attracting attention. It was while racing on the junior circuit that Cadel met his future coach Damian Grundy.
Grundy was a keen mountain bike rider himself. He’d gotten into the sport before there was any such thing as a mountain bike. The very first big international championships races for mountain bikes were held in 1990 in Colorado. Grundy raced in the early competitions in Victoria. From there he entered national and world competitions.
At the time Cadel was on the junior circuit, Grundy part-owned a bike shop in the Melbourne suburb of Eltham. It was his wife, Rachel, who first met Cadel at the shop. Although he had no money to buy gear, Cadel was a regular at Eltham Cycle Works. He came in to look around and dream about all the cool equipment he’d like to own. One day Rachel asked Cadel whether he raced. He replied that he had a couple of times.
Coming up were mountain bike races in Thredbo, New South Wales. It was at Thredbo that Cadel and Damian Grundy first met.
On race day the weather was so bad Damian and Rachel Grundy didn’t even want to go outside. They watched the race from inside their apartment. Cadel finished the race splattered in mud but pleased with himself. He had come second, a pretty impressive performance for someone so young and small. At the end of the race, Grundy went up to Cadel and congratulated him. He told Cadel all about himself and offered to help him train. Soon after, Cadel dropped into Eltham Cycle Works and the relationship between coach and rider began. It was to continue for more than ten years, and in that time Grundy would also be Cadel’s coach at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).
Cadel’s performance at Thredbo also got Martin Whiteley’s attention. Whiteley was the head of the Australian Cycling Federation (now called Cycling Australia), the most important body in the sport. Back then the Australian Cycling Federation’s main focus was road bikes and road racing, but Whiteley himself also loved mountain biking. He had been involved with mountain biking since it began in Australia. He had even lobbied the International Olympic Committee to make the sport part of the Olympics.
At the time of the Thredbo race, mountain biking was such a new sport that Whiteley himself was calling the races. That’s what Whiteley was doing when he first saw Cadel ride. Whiteley wasn’t sure how to say Cadel’s unusual name. Was it Cadel? Or maybe it was Caydel.
Whiteley’s first impression was that Cadel was just a gangly kid with a hard-to-pronounce name. Then he saw Cadel ride. Whiteley was blown away. He watched in amazement as the gangly kid pushed himself way out in front of everyone during a hill climb event. Cadel also blitzed the cross-country stage. From that day on, Whiteley knew Cadel Evans was something special. In 1993 Cadel came first in the under-17 Cross-country Australian Mountain Bike Championship.
As Cadel raced more, Whiteley saw that there wasn’t much competition for Cadel on the Australian junior circuit. When he raced, Cadel often lapping the entire junior field. Many of the riders were bigger and more well-built than Cadel, but that didn’t stop him.
Whiteley was worried Cadel might lose interest in the sport because things were too easy for him in the juniors, so Whiteley and other officials decided to move him into Australia’s elite ranks.
Whiteley wasn’t certain this was the right move. Light and skinny, Cadel was much smaller and younger than the elite riders. It was possible Cadel would find the competition in the elite ranks too difficult and would simply give up. Whiteley wanted to push Cadel. But he just hoped he wasn’t pushing too hard.
At his first national competition as an elite rider Cadel showed Whiteley he was capable of handling the pace. He placed second, ahead of many much more experienced riders.
After the race Cadel boldly asked to drive Whiteley’s Porsche as a reward for doing so well. Cadel was a car fanatic and had just got his learner’s permit. Whiteley let him have a drive. After that, Cadel and Whiteley were more than just rider and official—they were friends.
Cadel was 17 when he was selected to be part of the Australian team that took part in Australia’s first World Cup event. It was a real opportunity for Cadel to prove himself in the elite ranks. For the first time, he wouldn’t just be competing against other Australian cross-country riders. He’d be taking on the best in the world.
By this time, Cadel had sponsorship from Apollo. This Australian company had a road cycling background but was very interested in the newer sport of mountain biking. As part of his sponsorship package, Cadel got two new bikes. One was a race bike and the other was for training. The Apollo ‘Team’ bike had front suspension. It was definitely a big improvement on Cadel’s old bike.
With a cool new bike, Cadel had the equipment he needed to hit the elite circuit properly. Still, the best bike in the world couldn’t prepare Cadel for the challenge that lay ahead. He was up against the world’s best. There was Danish rider and three-time World Championship winner Henrik Djernis and the future Olympic mountain bike gold medallist Bart Brentjens of the Netherlands. These guys were ten years older than Cadel, with the best bikes and big-name sponsors. Cadel was both thrilled and terrified to be racing against them.
Cadel was aiming for a top 20 finish in the World Cup race. As a new rider to the elite division, he was ranked 75th. That meant Cadel started the race well back in the field. He quickly clawed his way forward though. After an hour of racing Cadel was in second position. He was only ten seconds behind the leader, Brentjens.
The race was almost an hour longer than Cadel was used to riding as a junior. Although he kept on slogging to hold his position, he was starting to slip back. An incredibly steep rise lay between him and the finish line. Even the best riders dismounted and pushed their bikes up it. Cadel was so exhausted he could hardly even walk. He had cramps and a bleeding cut on his leg. But he refused to give up.
Brentjens ended up winning the race. Second, third and fourth places were decided as one by one the sweating, gritty, dirty riders made it home. Dust flew as Cadel crossed the line in fifth place. Even though he was about to collapse, Cadel raised his hands in a kind of salute. It was a great feeling just to cross the finish line, but to come fifth in such a star-studded field was an amazing achievement.
When it was time to present the medals, race officials agreed Cadel’s effort deserved to be recognised too. So as well as the first-, second- and third-placed riders, Cadel and the fourth-placed rider were invited to join the medal ceremony. Ever since, there have been five riders on the podium at World Cup races.
After his stellar World Cup effort, Cadel briefly returned to the junior ranks to contest the Under-19 World Championships in Vail, Colorado, USA.
Martin Whiteley had taken a team to four previous World Championships. With Cadel in the 1994 team Whiteley thought there was a serious chance of a medal. At the event Cadel came up against another talented young competitor, Miguel Martinez. The little French rider, nicknamed ‘Mighty Mouse’, took out the cross-country title. But Cadel still placed second in what was a tough international race.
It had been a great season for 17-year-old Cadel. He had performed exceptionally well at the junior level, and he was attracting serious attention in the elite ranks.
From there, he had an ambitious game plan. The first thing was to try to win as many races as he could so that he would get opportunities to compete overseas and impress pro cycling teams like the ones his mountain biking heroes John Tomac and Ned Overend raced with. Then Cadel would sign with a pro team himself. The final step was to become the best mountain biker in the world.