The Long Road to Paris

Description

My mind took control of my body. I had nothing left in the legs but as a cyclist, you just keep going until the finish. I kept reminding myself that I had to get to the finish... Filled with sensational photographs and revealing insights into the thoughts of the champion, this book celebrates in words and photographs, 2011 Tour de France winner, Cadel Evans's indomitable will and champion's heart. Cadel's hard-fought triumphs and equally challenging disappointments - in the bicycle races that are thought to be the most grueling endurance test in sports - are a tribute to the strength of his spirit. His heroic battle to be the first Australian to win the biggest cycling race in the world, the Tour de France, has been an inspiration. A rare and fascinating look at the way a top rider races both mentally and physically and succeeds. Cadel Evans has made cycling history as the only Australian to win the most prestigious Grand Tour - the Tour de France.

Winner of the 2011 Tour de France, Cadel Evans is arguably Australia's greatest cyclist but he is no typical sporting hero. A master of one of the most solitary sports, Evans has contested the most sophisticated cycling team sport in the world. Uncomfortable with media attention throughout his extraordinary career, Evans nevertheless became an ambassador for his sport and helped inspire the new popularity of cycling. Evans was born with an incredible gift: a physiology, an aerobic capacity, that from youth, set him apart from the rest.