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Cadel on the verge of great things

23 May 2008 | 07:40 - By Mike Tomalaris

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Italian Daniele Bennati pipped Robbie McEwen and Mark Cavendish in Stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia. Leaving Mike Tomalaris to ask where the next generation of Aussie champions will come from.

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Like most Australian cycling fans, I'm looking forward to the Tour de France in July and watching Cadel Evans do his stuff - after all as a race favourite, he is on the verge of creating history.

Australians have enjoyed a lot of success on the pro-circuit in the last 10 years, but I'm starting to wonder what will happen when the stocks start to dry up?

Podcast: video highlights of every stage of the 2008 Giro d'Italia

For more than a decade, we have been spoiled by the talents of Robbie McEwen, Stuart O'Grady, Brad McGee, Baden Cooke and Michael Rogers - all of whom have provided the anticipation and thrill of success on world cycling's biggest stage.

Their achievements in Europe have been acknowledged by Australia's mainstream sporting public.

But as this current generation of Aussies enter their twilight years, are their suitable replacements emerging from the next generation?

There are many Australians currently plying their trade in various pro-teams - Simon Gerrans, Allan Davis, Graeme Brown, Brett Lancaster, William Walker, Mark Renshaw, Trent Lowe, Chris Sutton, Matt Hayman and Matt Lloyd quickly spring to mind.

Most of these names are either sprinters or domestiques for their respective teams.

While they are blessed with talents and skills of their own, I ask if they have the ability to step up to another level like their predecesors?

Only time will tell, but I sincerely hope so.

Davis is definitely one rider who has proven his worth in the past, but while he rases for a non-descript continental team, his time on the biggest arena is somewhat non-existant.

So you see, in terms of following potential regular winners the cupboard is looking quite bare.

The predicament in cycling is similar to tennis where Lleyton Hewitt has been flying the Australian flag solo for many years.

Although there are many rising tennis stars making good progress on the ATP circuit, there are doubts whether any is capable of reaching the number one ranking or better still win a Grand Slam title.

At 31 years of age, Evans' best years as a GC rider are still to come.

But will he be asked to carry the heavy hopes of a nation on his own once the McEwens and O'Gradys of Aussie cycling call it quits.

There's no reason why Evans can't dominate the roads of Europe for another five or six more years if he so desires.

For mine he is the world's unofficial top ranked cyclist, but who will we have to cheer once he decides to call it a day?

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19 Jul 2008 18:07 AEST

Cadels a gun

From: Melbourne

-->X<--

YOU POOFS CAN SUCK MY BALLS

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13 Jun 2008 0:01 AEST

Randy

From: Canberra

Michael Rogers

If Mick Rigers can develop some consistancy and get the support of his team he will leave Cadel behind and get the GC this year, or at least place ahead of him.

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29 May 2008 11:01 AEST

Dan

From: Nth QLD

Podcasts

With the podcast I have found that it has to download the whole file before it plays. eg:Stage 14 is around 70mb so it can take awhile. Then it appears in a tiny quicktime window which u really cant watch so go to ur temporary internet files in internet explorer. To get there click "tools - internet options - settings - view files" sort the files by largest size and u will see a file with GIRO in the title. Copy to the desktop and u can play it fullscreen

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27 May 2008 2:49 AEST

Chiara

From: Barwon Heads

cadel

Cadel was an MTB under 23 world championship silver medallist in 1997 and 1999.

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27 May 2008 0:15 AEST

gordon

From: canberra

cadel world champion?

i read above and Mike Tomalaris keeps telling us that Cadel is a former MTB world champion. Can someone please tell me what year he won a rainbow jersey?

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26 May 2008 12:26 AEST

mal nicholls

From: forest lodge nsw

cadels chances

cadel was fantastic last year .timetrial was the most exciting cycling tv ever .however I think cadel needs agression & support , specially in the mountains to achieve yellow in paris .but I truly hope he does .

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25 May 2008 11:31 AEST

Natasha

From: Miranda

Stage 14 video?

I missed the SBS highlights this morning because I was riding. I come home and there's nothing on the website. SBS has been promoting the online service from the start of the Giro, but there's nothing from stage 14 this morning. Come on SBS lift your game...

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25 May 2008 11:19 AEST

Alan

From: Sydney

Cadel

Michael of Glebe said "Champion bike riders can't be created by indoor trainers. They're created on the roads. And that's Australia's problem." It's interesting to note that Cadel came from a mountain bike background where he was a world champion. The cream will always rise to the top.

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25 May 2008 7:41 AEST

Michael

From: Glebe

Australian Roads

The answer is simple. Australia does not promote riding on our roads. How can champion riders come from a country which frowns upon cyclists on the road? All you have to do is think back a couple of weeks to the mass pileup in sydney where an angry motorist mowed down the pack. Cadel Evans once said that Australia and America are the two worst places to ride a bike. Champion bike riders can't be created by indoor trainers. They're created on the roads. And that's Australia's problem.

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25 May 2008 5:55 AEST

darren f

From: mt warren park

lack of funding

The lack of funding and development at Junior level is the one of the major issues for the next generation of cyclists.We seat back and watch other sports around us get stronger while we sit on our hands eg. triathalon. I'm a proud Queensland but the downwards spirial of our sport in this state is woeful. We sit back and watch other states go forward eg. no indoor velodrome we have a motorcross club take over our state track for 6 months. Have a look at Englands cycling program for juniors

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About this Blog

Stay in touch with the ProTour road cycling season with SBS's cycling blog, featuring race reports, video highlights and blog coverage of every race of 2008, as well as details of SBS's racing coverage

Mike Tomalaris is SBS's cycling presenter, who has covered the Tour de France for 12 years. Mike is a keen cyclist himself, and covers a few hundred kilometres a week in a social weekend bunch ride. For cycling fans around Australia, Mike Tomalaris is cycling.