Flamboyant eminence of the Tour de France winner Cadel Evans – Cycling News
An unusual voting was carried out by an Australian online travel company, Expedia on the social site Facebook. The viewers were asked to vote from the Australian top sporting stars that they would most likely wish to sit next to, on
a plane.
The dominating names from various sports were a part of the voting nominees, such as Michael Clarke from Cricket, Benji Marshall from Rugby league and Harry Kewell, a known football star.
However expected that the fan-following of Cricket or Football would most likely be on the top of the chart in Australia, but the name topping the list was from neither of the two sports. The BMC riding cycling superstar Cadel Evans
was the Number one athlete voted on the site off the back of his historic victory at the 2011 Tour de France.
An average of more than one out of seven people voted for Evans over the other top ranking athletes from Cricket, AFL, Rugby League and even union-sports, which is usually dominant in Australia. Second to follow Evans was the five
time Olympic gold medalist in the sport of swimming, Ian Thorpe and Stephanie Gilmore, Australian surfing champion was third on the list.
Evans had been suffering from lack of form since his injury at the 2008 Tour de France, which by the end he could still muster a podium finish. Since then was a draught of slight displeasure from his home-crowd, as felt by the Victorian
rider himself.
However, the 2011 Tour de France title indeed has elevated his fame to an unprecedented level. The excessive media-coverage of the sport of cycling in Australia because of Evans will indeed have an effect on the GreenEdge team’s plea
for next year’s UCI ProTour licence.
The cycling Champion’s wave of prominence continues to grow since his victory this year. He was recently greeted and congratulated by over 25,000 people in his home-country when he paid a brief visit to his civic reception in Melbourne
last month.
This was not all for the Tour de France champion from his home-soil, as he was then praised by the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in the Federal Parliament, of his latest achievement.
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