Cadel Evans on Eurosport

Australian Tour de France winner Cadel Evans will take on his final European race, the Tour of Lombardy, Live on Eurosport, ahead of his professional cycling farewell in February 2015 at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

“The chance of winning another Grand tour is probably past me, something I have to accept. Now is a good time to say ‘stop’,” Evans said.

However, with a handful of notable races still on his agenda prior to his retirement, including the Tour of Lombardy, which is the fifth of the UCI World Tour’s five ‘monument’ events, Fairfax media journalist and cycling expert Rupert Guinness told Eurosport that Evans won’t take a relaxed approach in the twilight of his career.

“When Cadel targets a race, he means it. He doesn’t go in to just train and with this being his last roll of the dice, he won’t leave anything on the table,” Guinness said.

Guinness further said that Lombardy, often referred to as the ‘race of the falling leaves’ due to its autumn schedule, is one that favours a thinking rider.

“If there isn’t a lone break away, it will be a small group at the top of the last climb. It will require a rider who is strong at the pointy end of the season, but also one that is sharp and alert and can make a move from that group at the top of the climb,” he said.

While Evans impending retirement will put a spotlight on Lombardy, the European cycling season continues to roll on with both the Paris-Tours Elite and Binche-Chimay-Binche one day races also to be shown Live on Eurosport Australia.

While the Paris-Tours event isn’t ranked among the monuments, it is a race often targeted by the world’s best sprinters as their final hit out for the year.

Tour of Lombardy
11.30pm Live, Sunday October 5
Binche-Chimay-Binche
12am Live, Wednesday October 8
Tour of Beijing
6pm daily Live, Friday October 10
Paris-Tours
12.30am Live, Monday October 13

All times of Eurosport are AEDT.