Cadel Evans announced in an interview with the Italian newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, that he plans to retire after riding the Tour Down Under and the Great Ocean Road Race in 2015.
Indeed, Evans will officially bring the curtain down on his 14-year professional cycling after he finishes the races, to an ambassador role with BMC Racing.
Evans joined BMC Racing after winning the 2009 World Championship road title near his home in Mendrisio, Switzerland. Over the years, he helped elevate the team from a second division squad to the highest levels of the sport – subsequently leading the team to its 2011 Tour de France title ahead of Andy Schleck.
He has continued to perform well in the grand tours, this year wearing the pink jersey in the Giro d’Italia and on Sunday, finishing 52nd in the Vuelta a España. His next race is the World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain.
In additional, Evans won the Giro del Trentino back in April 25, and two stages of the Tour of Utah last month.
“There’s a couple of blots – in 2004, 2012 and 2013 – but over 18 years, it’s not too bad of a career,” Evans said at the Giro d’Italia last May.
“In 2012, a virus really knocked me out. I had to take such a break to recover from that. I was more than two months off the bike, and that ruined my 2013 season.
Other notable victories were, the 2014 Giro del Trentino, the 2012 Critérium International, the 2011 Tirreno-Adriatico, the 2006 and 2011 Tour de Romandie, and the Tour of Austria twice.
“At the age of 34, I became the oldest post-war Tour de France winner in history!” Evans told Cycling Weekly in 2011. “I am kind of proud of that.”
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