Quiet Confidence

“I do.”

His voice is calm and quiet, but there is no hint of doubt in his tone. His whole demeanour affirms what he says. Cadel Evans knows he can still win the Tour de France.

“Do you think you’re losing the edge? Do you think you’re getting older?”

“No, I don’t.”

This is the world of Cadel Evans, the first Australian winner of the Tour de France. The 35-year-old radiates a quiet confidence that matches his voice. He doesn’t have to speak loudly for you to want to listen, and with his words you imbibe a little of his conviction that leaves you convinced too. Despite being among the oldest in the peloton, the 2009 Road World Champion is not to be dismissed lightly. He wants to win, and he knows he can.

But after a season marred by ill health, Cadel’s first priority is not the race podium.

“The first thing for me is to come back healthy and from what we can tell everything’s coming back towards normal,” he says with that same calm confidence. “When that comes back, of course, everything else comes with it.” He quotes the old adage as he talks. “The most important thing in our life is actually our health. You certainly realise that when you don’t have it.”

He’s very matter-of-fact with the details. “It seems that when I went to Ethiopia I contracted some kind of low-level virus and we didn’t find out about it until August,” he says simply. This is followed by a few moments of silence. No-one expected a straight answer about the ‘health issues’ that dogged the Australian favourite throughout last year, but that’s Cadel. It just is how it is. He doesn’t let it stop him.

“One thing that comes from missing out on not being at the front though is it fuels your motivation, you become hungrier and you want more, and certainly I’m not by any means the youngest rider in the peloton but I think I’m amongst the most motivated still.”

Motivation aside, even with a career as long and varied as Cadel’s, he has one or two regrets. “I think it’s my 19th full season as a professional rider,” Cadel reflects. “There’s a lot of races that I haven’t even been able to compete in which I’d like to be able to ride in. Don’t know if I’ll be able to get to all of them,” he says almost wistfully. But his trademark practicality soon kicks in. “But at the moment, focus on the Tour and of course the stage races leading on, and maybe in the years following we can look to reassess things.”

The Tour de France has always been Cadel’s target, and with his health on the mend he has his eyes on a second title. To him, getting his body back to 100% is his primary goal, and the question of which other riders might challenge him for the Tour crown is at best a secondary concern. “At this point, we’re still a bit early in the year to know,” he points out, almost critical of the pre-emptive question. “But in 2013 I’d look more for of course the performers in 2012, Bradley [Wiggins] and [Chris] Froome, as certainly the guys to beat at this point. I think those are the guys we’ll look to be watching leading into the Tour.”

“The thing that impressed me most about their season, but particularly that of Brad Wiggins, was his consistency to stay at a high level from Paris-Nice through to the Olympic Games. To hold that high, high level was really, well,” he shakes his head a little, “…to me, was bordering on what I thought was impossible, but he’s gone and done it, so it’s clearly not impossible.” He says very little about last year’s Tour winner, but from what little he says, it’s clear Cadel has a grudging respect for the Briton.

Of all riders, though, Cadel knows better than anyone how difficult it is to follow through on such a season as Team Sky has had. He’s philosophical about their chances, and speaks optimistically of his own. “Let’s see how they back up again from that, for this year,” he almost challenges. “Let’s see. That was 2012, this is 2013.”

The other elephant in the room when it comes to Cadel and the Tour is the matter of his young teammate, Tejay van Garderen. While Cadel suffered through the difficulty of riding the Tour on an average year in 2012, 24-year-old van Garderen was the revelation of the race, putting in brilliant efforts in both the time trials and outpacing his team leader on several climbs, finally finishing 5th overall ahead of Cadel’s 7th. The youngster is therefore being hailed as Cadel’s natural successor for the Grand Tours at BMC, and many have been wondering if that succession should in fact be now. There is no hint of uncertainty or forgiveness in Cadel’s expression or tone as he lays down the law for the Tour.

“I think if I’m back at my normal level it’ll be pretty clear what the team needs to focus on, and where we need to concentrate on and that’ll be to concentrate on one leader, that being me, ‘cause I’ve had the experience and I also have the results to back it up.” There is almost a kind of fervour in his voice as he talks about the paramount race of the cycling world. This is his strength. As a GC rider, this is, pure and simple, what he does. “I can win the Tour, and that’ll be important.”

“That comes back to my health in 2012,” he reiterates, a rare glimpse of what his year was like behind his public face. “I was stuck in a few moments where I didn’t know what was going on with my health, I wasn’t at my normal level.” But on the front of van Garderen, he knows exactly where the two of them stand. “In 2013, between Tejay and myself, it’s important that we’re of course honest and clear with each other, but most importantly for me it’s just to get back to my good level and if that happens, the rest is obvious.”

To him, everything is perfectly clear. Black and white. He doesn’t equivocate. When he says ‘I don’t know’, it’s not an equivocation. It just means that he hasn’t thought about the question.

“Everyone always asks me when I’m going to stop, but I don’t know. ‘I don’t know’ doesn’t stand for an answer so you have to make something up.”

The smile and the laugh that accompany this are awkward, as though he doesn’t understand why anyone would ask the question. It’s simply not relevant. The idea doesn’t feature in Cadel’s world.

“One thing about being outside of where you want to be, it motivates you,” he explains. “In 2003, 2004, I had some disappointing years, but that fuelled my motivation for years to come thereafter. That’s how I feel right now.” Cadel is far from bouncing out of his seat. This is not a man who wears his heart on his sleeve, but there is a certain quiet keenness in his voice and in his eye that can’t be mistaken. He leans forward a little and nods his head as he continues speaking.

“If someone said to me ‘Oh, I want you to stop at the end of 2014,’ I’d be like ‘Ahhhh…’ because I’m not through.” His reticence is clear in his onomatopoeia. “I love what I do, I think we have a great environment here in the team, we have a great balance in the way we work and so on. If I was thinking I was going to stop in 2013, I feel I’d be cutting myself somewhat short.”

He smiles just a little. “Easy to say at this point. Let’s see in 2014 and 2015.”