Of all the difficult challenges a great sportsman faces, backing up and repeating his triumph of a previous year is among the hardest.
Getting the mix of training and competition right in order to reach top form at the right time, maintaining health, motivation and luck all play a part in a successful repeat of a great victory.
Such is the task facing Cadel Evans as he bids to go back to back in cycling’s greatest event, the Tour de France.
It doesn’t really seem like 11 months since Evans thrilled Australia and planted his standard on professional cycling’s highest summit, but once again the Tour is nearly upon us.
Evans’ name will always be remembered in the sport as a Tour champion no matter what the result this year but a second victory would push him into rarified air, close to where only the greatest champions dwell. When you add his World Road Championship Title of 2009, Cadel is already well ahead of any other Australian cyclist in terms of greatness but multiple victories in the Tour de France would surely push him into the pantheon of Australian sporting greats once and for all.
It hasn’t been plain sailing this season for the “Barwon Heads Bulldog”. Races which he dominated leading into the Tour last year have produced disappointing results with only the Criterium International in Corsica being added to Evans palmares this year.
Illness forced him out of the Ardennes single day classics and a poor Tour of Romandie had the critics asking if Cadel was shaping as a dud come July.
Into the breach stepped Briton Bradley Wiggins who has won almost every time he has thrown his leg over a bike this year and is following a program not dissimilar to the one that saw Evans triumph in July last year.
With his time trialling ability and solid form in the high mountains, Wiggins must surely assume the mantle of favourite for this years edition of “La Grand Boucle”.
Andy Schleck, recently awarded the 2010 Tour Title after the disqulification of Alberto Contador, despite having been written off by many due to the large amount of time trialling in this years Tour, is still a threat and I expect him to be a force once the roads start to tilt uphill.
Other Australians to watch include the Tasmanian Richie Porte who seems to have recaptured the form which announced him to the cycling world two years ago when he led the Tour of Italy for several days. However Porte will be hamstrung being a member of Wiggins’ Sky team and may end up having to cart the Englishman through the Alps and Pyrenees, sacrificing his own chances.
And so, back to Cadel Evans.
I feel that Cadel will be in very good form come the start of the Tour at the end of the month. There has been some speculation that he has been husbanding his strength due to a tough back end of the season in which he hopes to compete in the Olympic Games and the World Road Championship in Holland.
His last lead up race, the Criterium Du Dauphine begins tomorrow night in France and it’s week long schedule will serve as a guide to how many of the major contenders are tracking for the big one in July.
I believe should Evans find the form he had in France in July last year he is once again a very good candidate for overall victory in the 2012 Tour de France. Good luck to him and all the other Australians contesting the event.
Getting the mix of training and competition right in order to reach top form at the right time, maintaining health, motivation and luck all play a part in a successful repeat of a great victory.
Such is the task facing Cadel Evans as he bids to go back to back in cycling’s greatest event, the Tour de France.
It doesn’t really seem like 11 months since Evans thrilled Australia and planted his standard on professional cycling’s highest summit, but once again the Tour is nearly upon us.
Evans’ name will always be remembered in the sport as a Tour champion no matter what the result this year but a second victory would push him into rarified air, close to where only the greatest champions dwell. When you add his World Road Championship Title of 2009, Cadel is already well ahead of any other Australian cyclist in terms of greatness but multiple victories in the Tour de France would surely push him into the pantheon of Australian sporting greats once and for all.
It hasn’t been plain sailing this season for the “Barwon Heads Bulldog”. Races which he dominated leading into the Tour last year have produced disappointing results with only the Criterium International in Corsica being added to Evans palmares this year.
Illness forced him out of the Ardennes single day classics and a poor Tour of Romandie had the critics asking if Cadel was shaping as a dud come July.
Into the breach stepped Briton Bradley Wiggins who has won almost every time he has thrown his leg over a bike this year and is following a program not dissimilar to the one that saw Evans triumph in July last year.
With his time trialling ability and solid form in the high mountains, Wiggins must surely assume the mantle of favourite for this years edition of “La Grand Boucle”.
Andy Schleck, recently awarded the 2010 Tour Title after the disqulification of Alberto Contador, despite having been written off by many due to the large amount of time trialling in this years Tour, is still a threat and I expect him to be a force once the roads start to tilt uphill.
Other Australians to watch include the Tasmanian Richie Porte who seems to have recaptured the form which announced him to the cycling world two years ago when he led the Tour of Italy for several days. However Porte will be hamstrung being a member of Wiggins’ Sky team and may end up having to cart the Englishman through the Alps and Pyrenees, sacrificing his own chances.
And so, back to Cadel Evans.
I feel that Cadel will be in very good form come the start of the Tour at the end of the month. There has been some speculation that he has been husbanding his strength due to a tough back end of the season in which he hopes to compete in the Olympic Games and the World Road Championship in Holland.
His last lead up race, the Criterium Du Dauphine begins tomorrow night in France and it’s week long schedule will serve as a guide to how many of the major contenders are tracking for the big one in July.
I believe should Evans find the form he had in France in July last year he is once again a very good candidate for overall victory in the 2012 Tour de France. Good luck to him and all the other Australians contesting the event.
Matt’s Tour tips.
1. Cadel Evans
2. Bradley Wiggins
3. Andy Schleck
4. Robert Gesink
5. Samuel Sanchez
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 