In episode 99, I catch up with Australia’s greatest-ever general classification rider, 2011 Tour de France winner and World Champion, Cadel Evans. Cadel begins by explaining the origins of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and explains the difficulties of putting on a bike race in 2024. We then turn our attention to which riders in the modern-day peloton excite Cadel and discuss the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, Pogacar, Pidcock and more. Cadel weighs in on Jai Hindley’s current contract talks and provides insight into what Jai may be considering from his own experiences. We then hear about Cadel’s favourite career moments and races to ride. Tour, or Giro?
Enjoy legends,
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Very nice to uh meet you cadel likewise on e e yeah you know it struck me as I was um I was riding home today that you’re the first tour to France winner we’ve had on the pot we’ve had other grand Tours we’ve had world champions gold medalist um and World Champion as
Well but first tour to France winers so that’s a nice so all right okay I’ll take that sort of okay let me put this out of the way it’s not aesthetic the aesthetic one I think I bought these from Dyre in Barcelona Airport coming back from a race many years
Ago not much CH but through the co whole Co um Virtual Office and everything it was they they did the job well it’s a nice setup you got there I’ve seen in other podcasts before that you’ve done it’s a nice little office setting it’s bit of a mess over here
Where my my P my my my paperwork’s kind of like okay I’ve got to do that I’ll put it on my desk that happens about 20 times then I sit down I’m like what what did I have to do oh I have to do this it’s got accumulation of letters and oh
Man people still send me stuff send me stuff to sign and really things like that really like what letters and jerseys and stuff oh I don’t know you haven’t even opened them yet think when if if you open a letter you never respond I leave it unop someone from
Belgium sent Isam sent something I don’t know maybe it’s something to keep it’s pretty heavy it looks like a jersey could be a jersey look feels like a book actually it’s size of a tinting book maybe it’s a tinting book wow come from Belgium could be that’s anyway anyway that’s
Interesting well cadell why don’t we start because the first topic I’d like to talk about with you is um of course A P 11’s Great Ocean Road Race which has been and gone now before I do that let’s let me I haven’t even had my coffee this morning
Yet I’m getting kids off to school this morning so oh beautiful he’s got the BMC espresso mug that’s fantastic I am yeah yeah I’m very BMC as you can probably see from the outside oh I see the bike too beautiful I’m um yeah that that was a retirement present actually for um
When I stopped racing and I sort of I rode a bit on the rollers I’m like this is too nice to ride actually but it’s great because it’s my um exactly the same road position as I had that I raced on really so it’s always good to have
One as a reference when you go back and I got a new bike or something you measure it up it’s like hang on a second let kind what kind of coffee machine are you working with at home there um I have a it’s a Swiss one um
Olympia crina so with a lever and all the manual y y but I um when I when I got divorced was like first thing I did buy myself a Cofe machine I did some research but I live uh I live on a town which is on a spring it has really hard
Water so anything you have lots of problems with water things I’m getting I’m getting one that I can get serviced easily so I bought a Swiss one and it was actually one of the best recommended ones because I know um we’re going to be talking about ji because he loves the um
Old pavoni ones which is that’s what I wanted but to get them fixed and things and there I know this the better one apparently so so that’s that’s what I have here and in our place we have a rocket as well actually that’s um that’s a little bit easier and more consistent
And more bling as well so yeah I think one of my friends has got a similar the manual with a big handle actually at home they they’ve got one of those they’re super nice but um to it isn’t it yeah yeah it makes it I
Suppose in the end it just makes it easy to stuff up making coffee can can actually do it simply but it’s that part of getting it right and and so anyway anyway anyway um sorry no no we should we should get started like officially right yeah yeah
Absolutely well yep cadell it’s great to have you on the tpr podcast do you know you’re episode 99 oh is that is that a good thing to go in before the 100 or is 100 the last one or no I think none of the 100 certain isn’t
The last one the 99 is good when I think 99 I think Shane War because that was his highest test cricket score okay I think um um Maxwell Smart because there a little kid you see age of 99 she was so pretty she seemed so pretty oh good one well yeah really nice
To have you on um great to be here good to speak Aussie for a bit I’ve been over in Europe for a few months now of course I was over for my race and so on and stayed on for a few things but um yeah
Been back in Europe for a few weeks and getting back to getting back to things here and um think I had a dream last night and I was driving down the wrong side of the road you know those things yeah those things that are different in Europe um mostly the seasons and the
Language and the mentality but um but um good to good to speak Aussie for a bit do do you speak uh you what languages do you speak you flu at home I I live in the Italian part of Switzerland I live very close to mrio where the 2009 World
World Championships were I lived here I’ve been I say i’ I’ve been based here for um 20 no 19 years now so quite a while since my lotto days actually when I moved to Lotto I also moved within here and um I have a 13-year-old son who
Lives just over the Border in Italy I live um 500 me just from the Italy Italian borders just over there um very close so my partner Stephie just went off to get the shopping so he gets in the car and goes to Italy and gets her groceries um it’s yeah it’s very very
Close um but um I have a 13-year-old son who lives over there and that’s why I’m still here but where our plan is to come back to Australia and be based back in Australia soon which for me would be my true coming back to home and home my
Home being bow heads which is the race passes through every year the great R I should spef and so on so anyway anyway well that’s a great segue into the first question that I was going to ask about your the great race the kid’s Great Ocean Road Race and
You know we had it a couple of months ago and two oh the races were just the women’s and men’s were terrific races in the circuit so exciting but I wanted to know when did the race you know start to form as a project you know not its first
Edition but when you know were you starting to talk about this during your career or you know was it your idea did someone approach you like how did the race actually come about the actual uh initiation of the race it was a bit of a
I sort of as far as I know even Beyond before when I was involved with the its formation which sounds kind of strange but the the um I think the the Victorian tourism commission it was called um um was created by Jeff kennet years ago they had a separate um department for
Major events Victoria um saw the opportunities that cycling had for was so good for tourist promotion which in the end that’s what the tour to France is is in the end it’s a huge tourist promotion for France other than a fantastic bike race and everything but
Um but it’s um they had this idea to do something like that and then after the tour the Victorian government had to be on their Bonnet they wanted to do something in my name and um I didn’t really have an interest to have a road named after me or a statue or something
But um when this idea came up we’d like to have a race and we’d like to name it in your in your name I was like well that’s a bit much but yeah I’d love to have a bike race um and then the next question was well what should we do and
And my ideas and my input came from the time in the calendar the format of the race the circuit utilizing a little bit the world circuit having the women’s race having the public ride having a I want to also one of like of course we
Have the elite and and it’s the pro the world tour really that’s what pays the bills so to speak yeah but I also wanted something for me cycling is something I suppose cycling for me obviously was a a racer goals to to France that really Elite level but now I step away from
That I want I want to bring more people into the sport or help people’s quality of life through cycling and while you inspire those with the world tour men’s and women’s it’s getting people on bikes it’s having the politicians come on the people’s ride and having the AFL
Footballers being a blacker for a day and and those things that that’s I suppose it’s that thing that’s um I want to go broader than just Elite level racing and and hopefully it’s one thing to inspire people but first Inspire then actually get them to do and start and
Make action and and it’s really um my my my really my I suppose when I said out on this was okay we have a race how it’s going to fit in with you have to fit in with your local community you have to fit in with the world tour calendar you
Have to be in with the top teams the top Riders because of course you want the top riders coming competing in your race and getting into the world tour and those things but also had this same thing sort of it was like um I hope that
One day um or maybe in the past it’s actually happened was that um family’s going to go and watch the race and a little girl a little boy they’re going to sitting on the side of the road and they’re going to watch bike race go by oh maybe I’d like to try
Cycling and that they’ll come back and win the race we haven’t quite gone that far but we have this um thing where we have this at the start of the men’s race where we have this little ride out with some kids and it’s the um Longport lead
Out now and a few years ago there’s used to be the veite lead out ve jerseys we look like Jaz J of veite on bikes and um anyway one of the girls who participated in that was in the race this year in the with racing with the world tour women’s
Teams which I thought was a huge huge step but that’s that’s really what we want to do is inspire people for the future and not just not just young people coming into the sport with Elite level goals but just people choosing to do some activity as opposed to none or
Choosing cycling as a sport to do along with other sports or promoting the coffee coffee shop rides and local businesses bring businesses to them on the weekend after the school holidays like on all these different aspects trying to trying to trying to fill in all these um aspects
So everyone will in the end also you want everyone to want to have the race as well because that makes it much easier to organize when people actually want to have it and that that young girl lucenda Stewart uh was her name and she ended up winning
The melbour of wary uh or the the colak warable which is of course the women’s race glad I’ve got you to here to join all these tops together for me yeah yeah cuz Karen told me that right after the race when uh and Lucy she listens to the podcast she’s probably listening now
Absolute Beast yeah that’s right yeah and War yeah so um that’s really cool how can come full circle like that um and I I heard I’m not sure who maybe it was on a different podcast I was listening to but I heard the numbers that you had
For um The People’s ride were huge like couple of thousand yeah we normally go over 3,000 I think 3,800 has been our biggest um number of participants um we’d like to have more um um it’s in Australia it’s the insurance aspect is making it is a real hurdle for as a as a
Race like I speak as a race organizer here not as a as a as a rider but um it’s just ridiculous the cost in some of those things um and when I speak with like the s brothers or something that their insurance fees that they pay
They’re paying a 50th or 100th of what we pay really in terms of insurance per per Rider you how can we yeah you know we’re trying to do the right thing and but um you know make it make the Riders available to anyone because if you have
A high entrance fee was interesting I was listening to see another podcast um and um what is it a publication who’s given up on their public ride or the grand Fondo because of the insurance things and then I was sort of nice to hear it from the other side where often
We’re receiving the criticism it’s too expensive but here was a a media Outlet saying oh we stop doing this because it’s just too expensive and if you ever see an entrance fee of this it’s completely Justified because you pay this amount of entry fee and that goes
To insurance and then you’ve got this to do road safety feeding road closures oh the road closures too that’s another one which has been um exponential not only with um inflation but um as well you get more roads built so you actually have more intersections but that’s actually
The small aspect of it what’s really spit it up is the um you have an increase in safety levels which is an increase of expertise which is an increase of people which is an increase of trained people which each one costs more um 10 years ago we we it was great
That the Lions Club from the surf Coast used to have some volunteers and to close off small side roads and now we have to have a certified person at every intersection who cost x amount of dollars an hour and but when you have 170 kilm road race it’s quite a lot of
Intersections you cross and so it’s a lot of people uh now the road race is terrific and you mention mentioned you you know your sort of input into selecting the time on the calendar um which you seem to have done such a great job because as other races have appeared and
Disappeared and shifted cadel had still remained at a really good space on the calendar so um you know I just think about the bay crit you the bay crit’s kind of squeezed out of the calendar in a way but um you know as Nationals and and TDU has evolved into a longer race
Cadel’s is um just sitting in such a good position to in you know to be attractive to teams to stay thanks well what what I really wanted to do was like when I was going through this in so answer the question 2012 when they started um so 12 years
Ago sitting down and where do you go in the calendar had it what sort of race do you have and what what I wanted to do was be something that fitted in with what was already already there and and also fitting in with the way cycling was
Going in 2012 we go back um that was like the start of the sky era where Brad Wiggins had his big year and he was basically living at altitude and going to races yeah so it was it was really the the start of big commitments from athletes to be traveling and away from
Home but what I saw was the shift in cycling going to this commitment and the need to prepare well for a season beforehand it’s like well rather than go to the races in Spain or Portugal where you can still get rained or snowed on or not be able to train well come to
Australia also going in with the growth of cycling needing to be a little bit more International um or becoming more International um there’s a conflict here we’re becoming more International in the participants and the sponsors but we seem to be losing International races for the reasons we were touching on
Before Road closes expenses expenses travel expenses and so on um and and then going going forward fitting in with what’s already there not adding huge extra expenses for teams in terms of travel Logistics and expenses um and why not why not Australia with the seasons be the start of of international
Cycling we’ve got the good weather we’ve got summer holidays we’ve got people do down under big part of its successes it’s in the school holidays and people can go watch the stages midweek um and then us being a one day race we’re not we’re not trying to be two or down we’re
Trying to fit in with two down fit in with the calendar fit in with the whole be be be be aop an important piece of the jigsaw to make it all work um we’re a one day race we can run on the weekend and um and so so so that that that
Weekend fits in well and then we have going forward it depends ISU the Olympics Olympic year so all the races are one week earlier um basic the Olympics are on so the tter France okay we we’ll go one week earlier and then everyone else is like well we have to go
One week earlier and that’s what that’s where the squeeze comes in the middle because so we’ve had so many additions to races over the years that every weekend’s kind of full so by moving one week There’s someone’s got to pay a compromise because remember not so much
Now but when we had the races in December in China and like right at the end of the season after tour tour of lomard which already seemed not it doesn’t seem so long ago that a long season seemed I would race T lomard and I’d go to the Twitter France
Presentation I’d sit next to C or something he’s like you look lean and M you want I finished my season two days ago he’s finished his season had his rest and he started back for his next year like isn’t this a whole different um know it’s just a whole different
Mindset but um but then when after two under when there’s other races sorry after tour of lomadia there’s other races but then if we’re moving to and under forward and where’s the offseason going and exactly that’s also and the thing for the teams now which is um to
Be ready for tour down under is becoming I’ve heard stories where um say some of the teams are finalizing their sponsors in December so but they need jerseys to race so maybe the the clothing supply for a team has to go be open on Christmas Day to print the jerseys so
That they can take them to two a down I think think I’ve heard story I don’t know how true it is but the are stories I’ve heard yeah yeah it’s really fascinating the the how it all works behind the scenes is is um yeah interesting and cadel has been very
Successful now you men mentioned you’d love to see the numbers of the Fondo um The People’s ride so grow but what about the world tour race um what are your hopes for the future additions in that you yeah that’s where we’d really like to see more growth more teams coming and
Participating um unfortunately we’ve come in this period where we had of course for everyone in the world especially if you’re in Australia the the whole covid um pandemic setback and we’re rebuilding after that um but what’s been our biggest hurdle from that is um the of flights putting on put flying people
Over putting on um accommodation everything all of those things cost a lot more and while we’d love to have every World Tour team in the race that also becomes really really signal um oh they huge added expense to what we already have but where personally where I’d really love to see
It is that much better quality deeper field and and that also goes back to this uh change where I was 2012 anticipating this uh importance of building up for the early season and the importance of training which has become really clear and I think if we look at
Vander paol comes off first race of the year with Milan Rea I think and obviously his performance there showed that he can come off a good period of training and race really well um that training has become so important now that a team like Lotto vismar are
Like ah 5 days in Australia extra no we’ll come back to adapt for the time zone to be ready for the next uh race and and these are decisions now that previously were made by a team manager or a team director now they’re being made by the coaches or
Sports scientist or something and and and they’re an example where they um they they’re really sort of taking that to the next level but at the same time the results the results are showing so the other teams are going to have to shift adapt by copy what they’re doing
And and so that at this point doesn’t doesn’t show in our FV okay well let’s move on to my next sort of topic I’d love to chat about is who in the modern well who in The Paton currently uh cadel excites you there’s just so many riders at the moment that
Do so many exciting things on the bike you know uh men’s and women’s we’ve got L of keki pck Peterson the soyer cross Rider um you know vano Pacha the list goes on but I’m really interested to know that who excites you these days uh in the racing
Um H good question I now I’ve become a real fan I’m just watching from the sides and read the results and and so on and um um if I look back on uh Milan Sano for example especially um I like I I don’t I have little kids I don’t watch
All that many bike races and I go to even fewer bike races unfortunately um I’m in a small children phase of life um I go to playgrounds and things like that um but um I I think if I take Milan Remo that we just just just recently had what
Amazed me was um or Van’s performance one coming out of um just training that was really impressive but also his who who in not just the modern era ever would put themselves in a position where they can win Milan San Remo and get a signal over oh no wait oh no I’m going
To I’m going to I’m going to I’m going to risk all this CH a great chance to win he only had to follow POG or maybe do two turns pretty sure he could have beaten POG in the final yeah um for his teammate I was like shapo everything
You’ve done on the bike amazing that but to to be a to do that is respect for your teammate respect for your team and to to put that on the line that that I really he he really amazed Me by what he did there but at the same time when
People look at the results you got 10th or 11th I think it’s but that that that amazed me and impressed me umacha Le into it had to go much earlier on the podo whether he didn’t have the legs or for whatever reason that didn’t happen still amazing ride but with all
The I think also when you’re when you go into race as the overriding favorite it’s obvious what you have to do it becomes a bit maybe not impossible to do but um very difficult and that sort of sort of celed it all out I think um unfortunately cuz it would have been
Really interesting to watch him go abs like bottom to top and see what he see what he did I’m thinking back to maybe what Pani did in 0s or something it would have been would have been a comparison or something like that but um so the the riters I’m drifting away from
The question here but um um Riders as a fan I yeah I enjoy watching like the really big guys winning and and but it’s more these guys who are sort of we have this we have this tier of riders who it’s sort of like everyone’s racing
Behind them so when I saw like the eight brothers swapping off the stage into um the first stage into Spain the road stage into um s Sebastian dasty last year I thought like for all the talk that was around Vanderpool taking on the last climb and this and like I see I see
I see them and that was like a real gooseb moment I thought as a father I got two I got two sons would as a parent what what would you be thinking I like that was a moment in the tour where I was um wow how awesome is this sport um yeah vanderpool’s
Um Manner and and and commitment to his team or dedication to his interest of his team in Milan Sano um POG car just want to win um been healing that’s a ride I really like like sort of like the second year coming through he’s he’s a riter I really like
Um and um I know we’re going to speak about this later but um I met Ro rogla years ago before he won over Walter before he won some races and so became friends with him I was at a grand Fondo many years ago and for some reason he
Was there doing it and and he rode slowly with me me as a not racing as a pro anymore I can’t ride nearly as fast I used to well certainly not over that kind of distance um but um but but um and I got to know him there and I became
A real fan of his actually and funnily enough I was out doing the ride and I come back and my partner was sitting there with his um fiance now wife mother of children so on and they were talking as well and they were both skiers and so
Him coming from another sport me sort of coming from another discipline of the sport suppose we had a lot in common in that in that regard as well yeah RIT is a fascinating character I can remember an article that this journalist Kate Wagner had written and she was really known for her
Architectural um uh reporting and she moved to cycling and she wrote this profile on on RIT and it’s she’s famous for these big long deep um really endearing um profiles on big Riders Kate Wagner and she did one on RIT and um it was very early days before he’d won the
Tour but he had shown that he was a competitor at that point and it was a really good article and we actually had Kate on the podast talking about it but it was that article um Kate Wagner RIT if you’re looking it up um that really
Turned me onto RIT as a human before a bike rider because she really captured what he was like yeah what amazed me when the first time I I talked with him he said that the the training and the time they spend with psychologists because for a ski
Jump you have such a small amount of time that you can’t you can’t be not concentrated for a second like a six- hour bike race where you sort of need to lose concentration every now and then otherwi you get too fatigued whereas the and the amount of time that they do
Working with a psychologist just to like well that’s that’s it’s like we do in cycling what we would the time that we spend doing like Bas miles or just like endurance they they they spend with the psy working with the psychologist to to um to um well go
Through that sport yeah yeah I know I was always I was always one riding my bike not with psychologist tell you what when you’re at the top it’s it’s a whole realm realm that I haven’t done much work on yeah I mean I guess when you’re staring down the
Barrel of those big ramps that those downhill skars have to go uh yeah you probably need to be pretty dialed in um yeah only got one shot it’s like the like because I look at having been a mountain biker when you’re there with the downhillers and even the sprinters
To some aspect cuz they’re they they when they come into their concentration they’re like at 150% concentration for a period as a GC writer has to see that well always put it as on off standby in terms of mentality as a GC writer you sort of you spend a lot of time on
Standby on standby on and because at the tour especially the way tour is in the last 10 20 years you can’t afford to switch off for any moment probably end up in the crash or something yeah um Mitch uh Mitch Docker always said that as for a sprinter particularly him as a
Lead out remember he said it once was the sprinters you’re almost you’re you’re switching off at the start of the stage and then the closer you get 50 40 30k to go 10ks to go you’re getting more and more dialed and tuned in and switched on towards that
Finale yeah yeah they’re building into it and then what amazed me having been teammates with zahab and Robbie mchan these guys is the the as a GC Rider you’re looking at things and you but you’re you’re being quite analytical about it and um watching where Riders
Are thinking where they are on GC how much did that Rider sometimes you’re on a climb or something how much did that Rider lose in the time tral in the first week okay how much can I calculate them to allow them in the Breakaway if they’re threatening to your GC or
Something but then as a sprinter they go through every like kilometer okay at 1.5 to go he was here they were there and they’re just as analytical but it’s it’s in this really concentrated period but everything’s happening really quickly but they’re reacting to everything really quickly and they’re remembering
Everything really quickly and I remember one of the directors of Z said I yeah he’s like a computer you ask him results from 10 years ago or whatever and he can remember every result and and then and then like Robbie when he goes back gets back to the stage after the race and
He’s watching and you know as a as a as a nons sprinter you’re watching who’s going in who’s leading out who’s following the lead out or whatever and he’ll be like where was so and so there oh look so was back there so how did he
Get up there oh he followed him and then and then like he’s I suppose Robbie’s looking at it more more more of the chess game end of the spectrum than bike race end of the spectrum wow as a bike race you’re watching who’s who’s leading who’s who’s which team’s on front which
Team’s coming up the side whereas he’s sort of looking who’s who who’s going through the middle hidden that um was after of course analyzing after you know the results of course the different analys analysis but um but the just to speak how how how analytical the sprinters are in that
This short period and that concentration required for that for that period really is incredible as same for downhillers And my partner’s a downhill skier and yeah for that two minutes or one minute they’re like for me I was like it takes me four hours just to get into get into
The yeah wow yeah it’s it’s that’s really cool I haven’t actually thought about that the different levels of concentration and the time periods that they in um so big talk I want to talk about with you CAD I just thought you’d have an interesting um take on this and it’s
Funny after I’d sent you the list of you know a little run sheet an article dropped yesterday from gcn where someone had done some research and uh and and talked about some transfer news that’s going on and I wanted to talk about Jo hinley because I was thinking about him
The other day um the great man from Perth and uh he’s his situation at Bora Hans grower at the moment um he’s had such a good pretty successful time with Bora and his contract is up this year and I wondered uh the news is is that
Bora want to resign him he also seems recently that he’s uh that he’s he’s Keen to stay with Bora he likes that setup but I do know that ja alula are also Keen to bring as many of those top Aussies back to their squad as they can
And um you know when you can consider that J maybe isn’t the number one GC Rider there anymore whilst RIT is there at least for the next few years and vlasoff is there too and and Martinez um I wondered what you would be thinking in this um situation if you
Were JY you know what would be some of the thoughts you would be thinking about um when considering your future uh and this would be probably his biggest period of his career where he can get his biggest contract you know he’s at his Peak he’s got some great results behind
Yeah yeah he’s certainly at the peak of his career and yeah really in the moment of fulfilling he’s reached his like I wouldn’t say he’s reached his maximum potential but he’s he’s right there fulfilling me fulfilling his maximum potential right now so in terms of um a
Rider manager now’s now now’s the time they want to be managing child um um um if if I if I wasn’t on the little kid period of my life I would have gone for a ride with him this week he’s just moved to where I am in the south
I know he’s home home this week um but I’m on a little kid program and so yeah I go for a ride out during I go for a ride at lunch hour are eating their lunch um it is it is pretty cold here in
The mornings as well so but um but he um I think interesting question and um yeah I I I’m a fan of I was sort of a fan of rler before J really came into his four um I’m still a fan of rogler big fan of
J really like him and he’s the way he races and his uh his character and he’s all almost a neighbor for me as well now um he and the Jak team obviously being an Aussie I’m a fan of them and if I can go back to an earlier period and and it
Maybe your question made me think back to even if we go back as far as someone like Greg Lamont had this issue Phil Anderson had these issues um I had these issues as a racer where as Australian or Outsiders where at a good level but maybe there’s a Dutch team that has a
Dutch Rider at the same or or a Belgian or a French or a and that’s been a compromise to our career at some point I think probably I think it was um Lon most of all the would have one another two of France he was on a French team I
Think is that correct on L CLA yes um but um going bit more bit bit bit before even my time um and um as a as an Aussie I’m here I was like I’m there I’m there especially when I was early in my Twitter France career
I’m sort of like there but no team would fully commit to me and believe in me okay we’ll have you on the team but we’re not going to build a team around you we’re not going to um and it wasn’t until till BMC actually and then that
They really built a team around me and and focused on me and that’s where my my my best results came but course being an Australian there was an Australian team that had that um benefit of um like a when I was at a Belgian team a Belgian
Team a Belgian Rider doing fifth is probably as much publicity for them as me being on the podium as a non- Belgian being on the podium so for them it’s easy to get fifth if we can get F just to give perspective on in that regard um
So now here finally oh there’s Noy team and obviously like um Simon was fourth at the tour last year he’s won of Welter espania they they really capable team it seems like it would could be a possibly really nice fit um but I’m just thinking further into it um Jo’s build
Himself a great thing with Bora he has a I think a great team that believes in him and um kudos to them going in following him believing in him winning the jro he delivered and now Ras come along and like hang on a second uh that’s not like in point that’s not what
He he didn’t build this team for Ry he buildt it for himself yes but at the same time time Simon Yates has been at Ola so I’ve got a delivery coming um for 10 years so if J goes there it’s going to be a similar the reverse it’s going
To yeah it’s going to be kind of the same same kind of thing in some ways um with J being Australian going to an Australian team I don’t know is Simon staying at the team after 10 years in the team I guess he probably will um
Obviously has a good thing going is um Matt White and the guys there better communicators so they’re already speaking talking to Yates about this possibility maybe God doesn’t want to leave B at all um there’s sort of a lot of factors in it but just the on on the
On the surface of things I don’t know if it would be such a it may not be such a step up but it might be just the same situation in a different team which that’s that’s interesting yeah I see exactly what you’re saying and you know
I I think for for J it’s it’s at Bora say for example in the situation of the tour this year you know ji went last year with no pressure which was fantastic and he had such a good ride um and would have had a maybe a slightly
Better GC position had he not crashed at the end there but it was still fantastic one a stage he was in the Jersey I mean we went wild here in west of Australia when that was happening um but when I think about it at Bor currently with
Rogich when they go to the tour together it’s almost really fitting J because he probably won’t be considered the leader of that team and he’ll be considered maybe the second you know like a cous a cous Ro set crous roll and that could be quite nice you know like in terms of
There’s not much pressure but also when he performs and rogl wins or or he gets up there as well it’s almost a win-win you know um to be in that position yeah and um it just depends on also the team managers the the aspirations of the team
The goals of the team but I think if if I was in bora’s position I’d be like no no we’re not going there with one leader which is seems to be the the thing the the way they are going okay it’s everything on rler no we’re going there with with two
One’s not going to compromise the other but but in two you’re going to be better off than than than one there um for it seems from the outside that what I can do also from the inside they they’re putting everything on RL I think for J okay that’s this is a situation let’s
Make the best of it yeah and um a lot of things can happen in a race like the Tour of France so um going there as um second guy isn’t isn’t such a bad thing it’s it does have its advantages as well so um going a choice but look at the look
At the positive aspects of that situation and and make the most of it I actually really like the the comment you said at the start with regards to JY he’s getting the most out of his like he’s getting the maximum amount of his potential that I think that’s a really
Good way to describe his career so far and he’s still got a lot um a lot more to to give that’s a great way to describe it um now I wanted to uh we sort of touched a little bit on um this my next question but with regards to GC
General classification writers across three weeks across one week even across four stages perhaps outside of the physical ability cadel to obviously compete at the top and and be that type of writer what are the attributes do you need to to succeed as a general classific writer um and particularly
From your your career days what were those things that you think worked for you tolerate stress I’d say that’s a bit of an underestimated one people don’t realize that oh you see as even as a pro you see Riders who have been Racing for years and they getting themselves in sit
Le leaders jersey or something in the stage RAC and they’re like like the attention and the the um the all of a sudden everyone wants you which is I find sort of um watching going back to Milan San Rema on the weekend so they didn’t know who won so
People didn’t know who to crowd around and then oh it’s confirmed that um that um philipson philson took it and then all of a sudden everyone went to him and like well they both did great rides they both did they both awesome athletes shouldn’t we be yeah it’s sort of like
No I just want to be with the guy who one um there’s this it’s like this magnet of attention and but unfortunately with attention it’s attention from everyone everyone wants your attention and all of a sudden you don’t have time to think um um because you’re just inundated with um tension
Whether it’s TV cameras and people but anyway um stress tolerance is a very under estimated what did you do well it’s funny that um thing the thing for me was being at BMC was just having someone manage this like attention thing it’s like okay okay you’ve done this now go
And have a rest just go to your room and just go and have a rest right and um cuz you’re at the tour you don’t have a lot of time it’s not going to go out for a walk in the forest or something because one you’re in a hotel or city and as
Soon as you walk out of your room there’s people journalists everyone just walking around and you Hotel it’s it’s the Tour of France is in the town so um there’s there’s um there’s a lot going on but I was I just read a book or something in my room but
Just really you’re tired it’s not like it’s not like you you feel like going and doing something often when you’re having a real tough tour to France to get up to get up out of bed to go to the toilet is already something you have to think about you think about twice
Because you’re just so tired so sometimes just that time to yourself is actually a distress time yeah no one talking no one and now with telephones and social media things your brains always have attention in that regard as well um so that that time alone which I
Think it’s not just a to of France people don’t have anymore but um that’s what I I think I missed missed about it and that’s where I think probably started cycling much later where much earlier than a lot of people in the in the sport today but
Just being alone on the bike and hearing the birds and feeling the wind in your face and things that’s something that um today when I go out I um like I started just racing 35 years ago or something um I did my first race 33 years ago um like
That’s when I was started to be attracted to cycling Lots changed obviously but that’s still today is something that I love about the sport being on your bike and rolling down the road or rolling down a trail or climbing up a hill or doing a descent that’s um that freedom and
No just you and the bike and and that and that’s um just say saying this um in life today we don’t get many times where we’re not stimulated yeah yeah big time we don’t have external stimulation and in our psychology that’s um yeah that’s something that’s probably strong in my
Psychology because growing up in the Northern Territory is the only I think one or two white children in Aboriginal settlement that wow time Al time alone I in my my DNA I have a lot of but um but just that you being at the tool with all that attention just stepping away from
That and and um you having time to think and reflect and also you’re writing like it’s pretty physically mentally hard um race to do it’s nice just to be able to analyze it a bit and think about things and try and anticipate things and visualize and those normal things that most people in
Other sports have sometimes too much time to do well very good answer um now we can move on to one thing I’m really Keen to hear about is your one of your favorite moments in your career cadell um I’m sure there’s so many it might be it
Probably was hard for you to just to choose one um but yeah what was a real favorite moment from your career and why um when I look back now um because I as time passes you sort of step back further and further away from the sport
Which you also have a little bit more perspective which is good um and um so I I suppose as my perspective changes my my maybe my favorite moments Chang but the things that really stand out to me now um were obviously the the tour and the time
Trialing grob and um the or the Gia stage was the the Thursday what four days from the end um that was I suppose that was an example of my um abilities as a bike rider but everything was there on show this is me this is everything
I’ve got and I’ve had the legs to deliver 2008 against SRA on after I was in the same situation I’d had a crash a week before I wasn’t quite at my best it was a bit of a strange situation with politics and Spain and teammates and
Things whereas um that galier I was in the same situation but I was riding better and um and I could really show um what I what I could do and and I have to say that was um 2011 was 20 years since I’d watched watched my first tour to
France and um and when I which was also the first year I did my first bike race um but that was like that I think it was um 6 and a half k or something that I went to the front with contador and took over sort of took control of the race
But that was 20 years of experience all put into into use that day and was that really um going back to the stress thing and Performing under pressure was staying calm because when you often as a GC Rider you you find yourself in as the Tour of France not just the Tour of
France a lot of most races to win it you really got to be playing their win lose win lose and and like to to be able to sit there and do that with a world title or to a France or something it’s not as easy as it may sound wow okay great
Answer great answer and what about your let’s say your favorite race cadel and it can’t be the tour to be outside the tour that might not be your favorite but maybe your favorite race when you were riding when you were racing and now your favorite race to spectate that you
Finished goes back a little bit to the um um one of the points of my career the Str Bianca stage to Monto Chino was the first time a gravel stage was in a grand tour um and um I have to say the St of Bianca
Was a Race I wanted to perform in a rider as it as it became known um I think the first edition Was Won by a a Swedish Rider Thomas um escapes me right now um but I sort of saw it as an X Mountain bik I want to do that race and
Even then being going as a race organizer I looked at that race and that’s a race everyone wants to do but it became a real classic specialist race and that it’s sort of the the dynamic so the race changed um while I was doing it
So I could never get there it sort of sharpen as good as I wanted to cuz I was building towards Tera or other races but anyway um that’s a race I love to watch cuz it’s just such a beautiful area and when we had the closures in Italy for
The pandemic and everything and open and oh let’s go watch St ban and we jumped all jumped in the car and went down as a family and book a bed and breakfast nearby on um in um asano and Rod our bikes down and watched the race go by so
That’s ni it was yeah it was that’s one of the things I go back to Australia I’m going to mised how many from austr let’s just jump in the bed and go try to bian and Tusk but um that’s living living Europe one of one of the benefits but as
A as a fan certainly paru um strata bianc um of course I watched the tour I did some commentary when took the yellow Jersey you you guys were jumping at your skin I was commentating on English TV I had to be a bit calm had had to channel my um stay calm
Under under under storm GC mentality yeah he’s right really he’s going to run yeah um hide my excitement but um but of course yeah I watch watch the tour in the mountain stages um but as a as a fan I suppose My Number One race to watch is
Just I probably bit boring Peru Bay like everyone that’s great yeah I love I’m sorry to answer right ride races that I wanted to race I love to ride straight to Bianca but they’re classic specialist and their team s became very specialized in that um the jro Was a Race that I
Really liked as a riter to participate in the tour is the biggest and most prestigious and certainly the one every Rider wants to win and to wear the yellow jerseys amongst the most prestigious that the rainbow Jers the most prestigious jersies in cycling um but the jro in terms of
Participating and going to and being at I found um less pressure less excitement less strength so you could actually enjoy it a bit more where to beat the tour unless you’re winning it’s pretty hard I found it hard to enjoy because I had a lot of expectations on me when I was at
The yeah if I wasn’t winning those expectations weren’t being lived up to and so therefore everyone was disappointed yeah no I’ve heard some other Riders also say the Duro just such a beautiful race organized well and and I mean when you get the weather right there as well and the weather’s nice
It’s um get yeah absolutely everything you know you don’t get the Stellar hot days but but after after you’re written over the gavier in the snow 20° feels pretty hot when it’s two days later or something it’s you know it’s still it’s still it’s still a big change for the body to adapt
To the jro they say in in cycling um the saying is um going to the tour is like going to the circus going to the J is like going to the museum for the people and the crowds and um which one thing you feel at the jro is
In Italy everyone’s very passionate and proud of their jro so you go to a hotel and the family that runs a hotel something they’re so happy to have you because you’re in the J Italian and they just want to they just want you have the greatest experience at the hotel and
They’re just so happy to have you and you go to the stages and it’s it’s really it’s the school kids out as the race passes their school or the people who every have been going to the same Cafe for maybe 30 40 years and and that year the jro starts the stages
Starts right there something and they just so they’re sort of they’re really happy and proud of it we’s going to the tour because it’s so big and such an exciting event it has all sorts of people from everywhere and they just want to be there and have a photo with a
Writer who’s in the tour to France or something and so they’re pushing and shoving and of like I just want to get to the start without getting hurt or missing the stage I see what you’re saying yeah but it’s yeah it’s sort of hard harder to enjoy obviously if you’re winning the
Tour it’s a different story um but you do have the yellow Jers the T move around it’s like it’s um not not not a simple process but um yeah the tour it’s so big at another level it’s it’s the biggest and prestigious but yeah it also brings
In a lot of um a lot of excitement outside of outside of cycling oh Cel man is uh that’s the end and it was so good to hear um it’s just so good to hear from you you got so many nice stories to tell and it’s just so
Fascinating you know uh cadel to hear from yourself and um I really appreciate you sharing your time to come on oh thank you thank you nice to nice to delve into a few things i’ I’ve been out of the world of cycling just for for a week other than watching watching Theo
But nice to talk to you and um oh interesting interesting point of J’s career makes me makes me sort of Wonder yeah how it’s going might be able to catch up with this weekend so I’ll I’ll have some more info yeah great okay well cadel 99 is going to be next Wednesday
Um but oh it was just great so hope you have a great week and um all the best with uh the young kids and thanks very much some rides and yep traveling around doing my things looking after kids and um doing those things but everyone listening um yeah enjoy enjoy the racing
This period is interesting um with the races can I speak about what’s coming up um I’m really interested to see what he’s going to do with the classic what shape is he going to be in yeah and I suppose there was a writer who I really
Admire don’t know him but big fan as well answer one of your previous questions but I interested to see how he goes this year amongst many others Lawrence py who you had on the show it’s interesting and see how he if he can continue uh how he going 20th yesterday
In um is it uh I didn’t ever ride those races so they’re a bit foreign to me but he’s he’s going strong and that was that was interesting you need a runner he can he can still run fast too he can r that was interesting changing mentalities from
Being a runner normally Runners when they become bike riders they become a different a different Spectrum certainly not sprinters and what’s required to do that he crossed over very well in the change of sport and change of mentality thanks very much Je was um oh really
Really good to talk and um everyone in Australia over there yeah enjoy enjoy this enjoy the racing coming up it’s going to be going to be great and um yeah we got some I think some great Aussies to follow as well and Jo and um Michael Matthews has showed that he’s
Still right there amongst it and yeah Caleb hopefully getting over his illnesses we got a we got a lot of things to look forward to this year we do all right cadell thank you very much man have a great day thank you bye brilliant see thanks canel that was
Really good all right good all right yeah I probably waffled on a bit there no not at all not at all thanks a lot yeah you’re very welcome I’ll I’ll run off and get back to my things here and um yeah great great that you’re doing
The interviews oh I did want to mention one thing the the mor interview you did that was interesting I didn’t know him as a rider and um yeah um just know coming on I just want to get a bit of an idea and um I don’t listen to many cycling
Podcasts listen to them there’s a lot there’s a lot at the results and I make up the I make up happened in the race and then I leave I was like what about reading the article Mahar G gave me a call actually he’s the first writer to
Ever call me I was riding my bike and I got this call and his press officer had given me my number and he called me up and he wanted to just talk about he go oh how long do you need and you can do this and I’ve never had anyone do that
Before it was it was really nice yeah he he was really interesting real methodical attention to detail and um really going in making the most of everything it was that was interesting Kate uh Kate Wagner did a profile on him too I really recommend you looking her
Up Kate Wagner PR article here I’ll open she did one on Mahar as well I’ve got open cycling stream Logitech uh was it drive update Sil chain lube got got that chain wax thing I got to get it okay I’ll leave you to it cadel thanks a lot all right good to speak
With me mate jump off the line see you bye