Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing and Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

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In July 2006 I was standing in a queue at Charles de Gaulle with my wife and daughter when I heard a slightly high-pitched Australian voice behind me. Looking around, we recognised that it was the man whom we had watched finish fifth in the Tour de France on the Champs Elysees the day before. He was later elevated to fourth in that first post-Lance tour after the winner, Floyd Landis, was disqualified for drug use. It was the best result ever for an Australian at that stage, eclipsing Phil Anderson’s two fifth placings in La Grand Boucle, as the French call the famous tour.

For the next few minutes we chatted to Cadel and his Italian wife, Chiara. He was looking forward at that stage to returning to his European home, having spent the previous 21 days riding more than 3,500 kilometres around France at an average speed, including going up mountains like Alpe D’Huez and Galibier, of some 40 kilometres an hour. Although he was obviously tired, he was relaxed and happy to talk to a few Aussies at the airport. Indeed, he enthused about returning to Barwon Heads over the Christmas and summer break. Before he left, Chiara offered to take a photograph of us, a photograph which I treasure even more since he has won the Tour de France.

It was the first time that most Australians had heard of him. If an Australian cyclist was known it was more likely to be Robbie McEwen, who had stood on the podium in Paris as wearer of the green sprint jersey on three occasions, or Stuart O’Grady, the prolific winner of track and road races, including Olympic medals. Many people even had difficulty in pronouncing his Christian name when they first heard it. But in the next two years he would come tantalisingly close to winning the tour. Somehow his Belgium based Lotto team did not seem to have the right support riders. Other teams seemed to protect their climbing stars, helping them over the high passes in the Alps and the Pyrenees. Cadel often seemed alone fighting odds beyond his control. But it did not affect his easygoing personality. At the following year’s Jayco series in Victoria, he participated in Amy’s Ride with thousands of recreational cyclists. Amy’s Ride, of course, commemorates the life of Amy Gillett, who was tragically killed in a training accident in Germany. The Amy’s Foundation works towards doing two things, addressing safety on our roads, particularly for cyclists, and assisting up-and-coming female cyclists.

On that day, after assisting legendary commentator Phil Liggett, Cadel chatted with fans, signing autographs and having his photo taken with many of them for an hour or more. I remember another occasion when we were fortunate to meet him and how he chatted away for about 10 minutes encouraging my youngest son, who had just taken up racing.

The high hopes of an Australian winner crashed the following year when Cadel finished 30th. Something clearly troubled him in that tour, but apart from some cryptic comments he kept it to himself. He also had bad luck in Vuelta a Espana, the Tour of Spain, losing valuable time with a puncture at the foot of a steep climb, yet he fought back to finish third in a tour he thought he could have won. Interestingly, at that stage many critics wrote off Cadel and said he could not win the Tour de France—he could only ride at one pace, he did not have the brilliance of Lance Armstrong or Alberto Contador and he had not won a major one-day classic. Indeed, prior to the 2009 World Championships, the Swiss champion Fabian Cancellara dismissed Evans’s chances in the road race.

Much of that criticism was put to rest in five kilometres at Mendrisio, Switzerland, in September 2009. Approaching the last hill in the 262-kilometre World Championship road race, Cadel simply rode away from some of the best cyclists on the globe and in doing so he became the first Australian winner of that prestigious world championship event. Michael Rogers had won the time trial three times and Stephen Hodge, who rides with us here in Canberra, had twice won the amateur race which was regarded previously as the unofficial world championship for time trialling, the Grand Prix de Nations. Then, of course, we had Robbie McEwen’s second placing, which was the closest otherwise in coming to wear the rainbow jersey in the road race for any Australian. It was a very fitting outcome for an understated champion who conducts himself with modesty and humility.

In 2010 Cadel had more bad luck. He crashed, he had a hairline fracture in his elbow and he finished a disappointing 26th in the event. All that turned around this year. He won one of the first races of the season, the Tirreno-Adriatico. He then followed that up by winning the Tour de Romandie. He finished second in the Criterium-du-Dauphine. Of course, as we all know now, he came out and won the Tour de France.

Australians have dreamt of winning the Tour de France for a century. Of all the world’s great individual sporting contests, it has remained outside our grasp. Edwin Flack claimed gold on the track of the first modern Olympics. Our swimmers regularly beat the best in the pool and our track cyclists have often dominated on the velodrome. But cycling’s greatest challenge has escaped us. Ever since Don Kirkham and Snowy Munro contested the 12th running of the Tour de France in 1914 Australians have returned to France in search of victory. This year they have found it, and I am sure that Cadel’s victory will encourage the many hundreds and thousands of young cyclists in Australia to seek to emulate him in coming years. I am sure that the Australian victory and that great occasion when he was on the podium on the Champs Elysees with the Australian Tina Arena singing the national anthem will not be the last occasion that we see an Australian win the Tour de France. Congratulations, Cadel.

Sharon Grierson (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

( each year.

Cadel does epitomise the Australian story. Born in Katherine in the Northern Territory, he spent his first four years growing up in the Indigenous community of Barunga, 80 kilometres outside Katherine. I am sure that when he began at the age of two riding a 16-inch BMX bike he never imagined the heights he would achieve in the cycling field. To go from that little boy of two in Katherine to the man standing on that podium on the Champs Elysees is a dream that again says Australians can achieve whatever they want with the right courage, conviction and support.

The Tour de France this year covered more than 3,430 kilometres in 21 stages. I confess I only watched 11 nights of it continuously. It was arduous for the riders and a little arduous for federal members of parliament as well, who were quite addicted to it. It is the world’s most competitive cycling race and Cadel Evans is the first Australian to win the Tour de France. He is also the oldest first-time winner at the age of 34.

Starting that last full day of the tour almost one minute behind the leader, Cadel finished second in the time trial and secured his victory in the tour overall. I think we also feel very proud that Cadel was very gracious in victory. Not only did he pay tribute to his team and to the other competitors; he dedicated his win to his late mentor, Aldo Sassi, who died of cancer in 2010. His career has been a most interesting one. Going from 1998-99, the first overall in the Mountain Bike World Cup, second in 1997 and 1999 in the under-23 World Championships, and he won the young riders competition of Australia’s very own Tour Down Under in the Adelaide Hills before converting to road racing full time in the summer of 2000.

But then, of course, he made that wonderful transition to Tour de France-type events, going away from mountain bike riding. He achieved high placings in the Tour de France in 2005, coming eighth; in 2006, fourth; in 2007 and 2008 he came second; and in 2007 he was named Australian Cyclist of the Year. In 2009 he won the World Championship road race in Mendrisio, Switzerland. All of us wanted him to win. He has come so close so many times. To watch him make that additional effort this time was quite amazing.

The ABC termed Cadel the thinking man’s champion after he wore a T-shirt in support of Tibet and the Tibetan people’s struggle with mainland China during the 2008 Tour de France. It was a gutsy thing to do. At the time Cadel commented that trying to bring awareness of the Tibet movement is something someone in his position can do. It is good to know that he is also associated with causes that he believes in and has the courage to be a well-rounded person rather than just a single-interest cyclist. Cadel is currently competing in the US Pro Cycling challenge. Cadel finished the first stage in fourth place, 17 seconds behind the leader, Levi Leipheimer. We wish him well in this ongoing event.

I would also say to Cadel Evans, thank you on behalf of all Australians, cyclists and non-cyclists for the pleasure you gave us, and to SBS. The viewing is a pleasure. As a member of parliament, I am sorry but I can see such parallels in the clever tactics that have to be used to win such races. It is not always about speed and skill. It is a tactical game. I get a bit hooked on that sometimes too. We would like to see more of that perhaps here in this place.

I would also not so much thank Cadel Evans but acknowledge that because of him and a little contribution from the coverage of the News of the World investigations and the committees in England, in the UK parliament, I did suffer jetlag for at least a week after going to sleep at 2 o’clock for 10 days. I agree with some of the things that have been said and published about Cadel. An editorial published in the Age said that his victory in the 2011 Tour de France entitles him to a place alongside the world’s leading cricketer Donald Bradman; billiards wizard Walter Lindrum, swimming legend Dawn Fraser and the crew of the America’s Cup winning yacht Australia II on the list of Australian sporting heroes who have taken on the world’s best in their field and prevailed. An editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald likewise described it as one of the greatest wins in Australia’s illustrious sporting history.

Congratulations, Cadel. May your career deliver to you the satisfaction and success that you have achieved so far, and may you continue to bring great pride to the Australia people.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

(. It was Alfred Lord Tennyson in his poem Ulysses who said, ‘To strive, to seek, to find but not to yield’, and that is the story of Cadel Evans’s career as well as his victory in this year’s Tour de France.

The lessons are very simple for Australians. It is that sense of the joy of participation, the commitment to the long term, determination and then graciousness in defeat and graciousness in victory. All of these are qualities that have been embodied by Cadel Evans’s career and Cadel Evans’s victory in this year’s Tour de France.

I am delighted that, if not a Victorian by birth, he is certainly a Victorian now. Indeed, he comes from the Bellarine Peninsula, which is opposite the Mornington Peninsula. We can almost claim him as one of our own. The most significant thing to come out of it is that sense of participation, joy and purpose from pure activity and pure commitment. That is a lesson which hopefully will inspire young people to pursue their dreams, to seek that which they aspire to. It is something that I have seen talked about in primary schools. I visited primary schools in the week after the Evans victory and the kids were very excited. I think that was a great thing for an Australian but a greater thing still for young Australians.

There will be debate in coming decades, and it will be joyful debate, whether Evans, Bradman, Lindrum or Fraser is the greatest of our athletes. But I think one thing that will probably emerge is that in terms of individual sporting achievements, as great as the America’s Cup was, as great as other events, Phar Lap’s victories, as great as Bradman’s 1930 tour of England was, this will probably rank as the single greatest sporting achievement of the period up until now. Careers will be defined and it will be hard to go past Bradman’s career. But in terms of individual sporting achievements I think I would probably put my money on this one. That is for tragic sports historians, such as most of the members of parliament, to debate in years to come.

Returning to Tennyson and Ulysses, it really is the case that the lessons we learn from this will be used to inspire and to elevate Australian schoolchildren in decades to come and we will remember that the lesson of Ulysses is the same lesson of Evans—to strive, to seek, to find but not to yield.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

( it is notable that success requires a remarkable combination of fitness, skill, tactics, ability and just a dash of luck. There are so many things that can go wrong, often through no fault of your own. The task of a true champion is not only to master the physical and mental challenges that come with such a long event but also to take every step to minimise the chances of an accident.

Cadel Evans has done that and so much more. In a sport that has been beset by scandal in recent years, Cadel has stood out as a rider who has achieved his results on merit. He has demonstrated a commitment and tenacity that has allowed him to overcome adversity and to take his losses and turn them into victory.

Like most Australians, I do not know Cadel. I have observed his achievements through the media. As I watched, I saw him fall short of outright victory on so many occasions. But he never gave up. His result in the Tour de France this year was a remarkable achievement. That result provides inspiration for so many others, particularly in Australia. Why? Because Australians share the ride with our sporting heroes. We share the pain of their defeats and the joy of their victories. That is the stuff of being Australian. Indeed, a friend of mine, Mr Phil Kesby not only shares those sporting successes with Cadel Evans but he fixes his bike in front of the TV and he actually rides his bike during the length of the Tour de France. This year because of Cadel’s success he even rode during the replays, so you can imagine he was probably just as exhausted as Cadel by the end of it.

In Cadel’s case, sharing his Tour de France victory is so much sweeter because he had to work so hard, so much sweeter because he had lost before but had never given up. It is a comment on sport that coming second is seen to be a loss, but there is nothing like victory. This great victory will resonate throughout Australia. It will put more people on bicycles. My local retailers are telling me that this is the case. Bicycles continue to outsell cars as they have done since the year 2000 in Australia. Importantly, the more people we see on bicycles the better the health outcomes for our community. A bit of fitness reduces the risk of heart attack; we all know that. This is what Cadel has done, because his inspiration puts more people on bikes. In Ryan and in Brisbane there has been a concerted effort by the Brisbane City Council to build the infrastructure for safe cycling. With the leadership of then Lord Mayor Campbell Newman and the current Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Cr Graham Quirk, they are committed to helping ordinary people get on bicycles.

As the then Chairman of Public and Active Transport, I was responsible for planning and constructing $100 million-plus worth of bikeways and enhancements throughout the city. The great achievement that we were able successfully to deliver was invariably the difficult missing links that had been left undone by previous administrations so that we have a connected network throughout the city.

The other great advantage we have is that Cadel Evans is an outspoken supporter of cyclists wearing helmets. On his website Cadel made the point:

Physically I am completely unsuitable for almost all Australian school sports. Nearly all Australian school sports require speed and/or size.

Whilst I am sure that things have changed since Cadel was at school, it is important that we bear in mind that sport is not just for a small group of physically advantaged children.

Finally, let me say a simple well done to an ordinary bloke but in part because of that a genuinely great Australian. The image of Cadel Evans on top of the podium in front of the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees draped in the Australian flag will forever be etched in Australia’s history.

Debate adjourned.