We mentioned earlier we’re not huge fans of Cadel Evans, though we think less of ourselves for that. He’s gritty and tough as nails–a description that fits any rider in the Tour, though he’s faster than most of them. He’s also nastier than most of them if you judge by what you can see in public. Early in the Tour, Evans swatted a motorcycle-mounted gendarme whom he thought was riding carelessly. It was a great moment–on live TV and everything. As The New York Times notes in a story the rider’s antics of the past few stages, “Evans might be the only living person not in custody to have punched a Gendarme.”
Other choice Evans moments: Screaming at and batting at reporters who brushed against his injured left shoulder after he gained the yellow jersey in the Pyrenees. Head-butting a camera that got in his way after he lost the jersey in the Alps. And threatening, “I’ll cut your head off!” to someone who nearly stepped on his dog after one race.
Such behavior draws all sorts of head shaking and clucking of tongues. It is ugly, of course. But face it, what’s more delightful than watching some luminary losing it in public. We can only hope someone provokes Evans again on Saturday and gets him off his game enough that he finishes second or third overall on Sunday. That way he can do a reprise of his Paris Podium Pout of last year.
Below: The Worst of Evans, by way of YouTube.
Above: Evans after winning the yellow jersey. What a sweetheart.
Above: Evans shows helmeted head-butt technique. Cadel, would you mind winning a stage for my grandson Jimmy, who’s laid up with a touch of brain cancer?
Above: “Don’t stand on my dog, or I cut your head off.” Odds-on front-runner for The International Bicycle-Riding Pet Advocate of the Year!
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Do the press still give out that award to the most (press) friendly rider? He should be a shoe-in.
Yeah, I think he’s found a special place in the hearts of the journos. I mean, you can sympathize with the guy to some extent: there’s a crush of people who want to stick mikes and cameras in your face before you even have time to think, day after day. And we don’t know whether Lance or Floyd (or Richard Virenque or Marco Pantani or anyone else) handled the mob. Still, even considering all that, this guys seems particularly graceless and prone to complain. I love the way in the last clip, where he makes the “cut your head off” comment, that he whines about the finish of the stage being “three against one.” Maybe he’s suffering from ‘roid rage. Or maybe he needs to harden the f___ up, as another Australian says.