From today's Australian newspaper.
FEISTY Australian cyclist Cadel Evans says his thoughts after a podium finish in the Tour of Spain are best summed up in a song by rock band the Foo Fighters called I'll Stick Around.
In a typically enigmatic move, the two-time Tour de France runner-up remained coy about his third placing on the three-week Vuelta, having finished behind the controversial Spanish winner Alejandro Valverde. "My conclusion of Vuelta can be found in I'll Stick Around by the Foo Fighters -- careful listening required!" Evans posted on Twitter, adding: "(Your guess who 'you' is)."
Whether that was a thinly veiled swipe at Valverde, who is banned from riding in Italy after a doping scandal he denies, is debatable. But the song does include the line: "I still refuse all the methods you've abused."
The result represents a return to form for Evans after a poor Tour de France as he prepares to ride for the Australian team in Sunday's road race at the world championships near his home in Switzerland.
Valverde took the Tour of Spain leader's golden jersey from Evans after the ninth stage. A puncture on the 13th stage cost the Australian time he could not reclaim and he finished 1min 32sec behind Valverde and 37sec behind second-placed Spaniard Samuel Sanchez.
Valverde captured one of cycling's three major tour titles for the first time just months after being embroiled in the doping controversy.
The 29-year-old Caisse d'Epargne rider virtually just had to stay in his saddle on Sunday to win the event.
Germany's Andre Greipel won Sunday's 21st and final stage in a sprint finish in Madrid ahead of Italy's Daniele Bennati at the end of the 110km course from Rivas Vaciamadrid to the capital.
Valverde finished the stage in 26th place, 10 seconds behind Greipel and with the same time as Sanchez.
"It's a special feeling, now I know that I can win a big three-week tour," Valverde said. "Everyone had doubts, but I knew that I could achieve it because I had been close."
The trophy will be some consolation this year for the Spaniard, who is under a two-year doping ban in Italy which prevented him from taking part in the Tour de France this year as it briefly passed through the country.
The anti-doping tribunal of the Italian Olympic Committee took the action last May after it said blood samples taken from him during an Italian stage of the 2008 Tour de France matched DNA samples from suspect blood bags discovered in the 2006 Operation Puerto doping scandal.
Valverde has contested the allegations.
Agencies
FEISTY Australian cyclist Cadel Evans says his thoughts after a podium finish in the Tour of Spain are best summed up in a song by rock band the Foo Fighters called I'll Stick Around.
In a typically enigmatic move, the two-time Tour de France runner-up remained coy about his third placing on the three-week Vuelta, having finished behind the controversial Spanish winner Alejandro Valverde. "My conclusion of Vuelta can be found in I'll Stick Around by the Foo Fighters -- careful listening required!" Evans posted on Twitter, adding: "(Your guess who 'you' is)."
Whether that was a thinly veiled swipe at Valverde, who is banned from riding in Italy after a doping scandal he denies, is debatable. But the song does include the line: "I still refuse all the methods you've abused."
The result represents a return to form for Evans after a poor Tour de France as he prepares to ride for the Australian team in Sunday's road race at the world championships near his home in Switzerland.
Valverde took the Tour of Spain leader's golden jersey from Evans after the ninth stage. A puncture on the 13th stage cost the Australian time he could not reclaim and he finished 1min 32sec behind Valverde and 37sec behind second-placed Spaniard Samuel Sanchez.
Valverde captured one of cycling's three major tour titles for the first time just months after being embroiled in the doping controversy.
The 29-year-old Caisse d'Epargne rider virtually just had to stay in his saddle on Sunday to win the event.
Germany's Andre Greipel won Sunday's 21st and final stage in a sprint finish in Madrid ahead of Italy's Daniele Bennati at the end of the 110km course from Rivas Vaciamadrid to the capital.
Valverde finished the stage in 26th place, 10 seconds behind Greipel and with the same time as Sanchez.
"It's a special feeling, now I know that I can win a big three-week tour," Valverde said. "Everyone had doubts, but I knew that I could achieve it because I had been close."
The trophy will be some consolation this year for the Spaniard, who is under a two-year doping ban in Italy which prevented him from taking part in the Tour de France this year as it briefly passed through the country.
The anti-doping tribunal of the Italian Olympic Committee took the action last May after it said blood samples taken from him during an Italian stage of the 2008 Tour de France matched DNA samples from suspect blood bags discovered in the 2006 Operation Puerto doping scandal.
Valverde has contested the allegations.
Agencies
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram