25 Jul 2011

Evans wins tour

10:06 am on 25 July 2011

When a 14-year-old Cadel Evans declared in 1991 that his ambition was to win the Tour de France, a lot of people around him thought it would turn out to be just another pipe dream.

Today, Evans proved that age was no barrier to fulfilling that goal as he became the first Australian to win the Tour and its oldest winner since 1923.

Evans says it's been 20 years since he watched his very first Tour de France on TV and said he'd like to win it.

The 34-year-old became one of the world's best mountain bikers, twice winning the World Cup, and honed his skills during climbs and especially in descents, which proved useful in this year's Tour.

He says a lot of people didn't believe he could do it, but there were enough that did.