BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans of Australia, wearing the leader's yellow jersey, holds his bicycle in front the Arc de Triomphe as he celebrates on the Champs Elysees after winning the 98th Tour de France said in Paris. Pascal Rossignol / Reuters
Star has had a habit of setting 'firsts' for Australian cyclists

PARIS - If cycling fans are looking for another Lance Armstrong in new Tour de France champion Cadel Evans, they had better look again.

Although a consummate professional, Evans is also an athlete with a political conscience who, at times, has been mocked for a quirkiness.

The 34-year-old, who lists cooking, music, cars and reading among his major interests, maintains that comic book hero Tintin is "the only cyclist who gets a framed picture on my bedroom wall".

During the 2008 Tour de France Evans raised eyebrows when he wore a T-shirt in support of Tibet and the people's struggle with mainland China.

"Trying to bring awareness of the Tibet movement is something someone in my position can do. I just feel really sorry for them," said Evans.

"I don't want to see a repeat of what happened to Aboriginal culture (in Australia) happen to another culture."

Previously labeled as the 'nearly man' because of a number of near misses on major races, including two runner-up places on the Tour de France in 2007 and 2008 and a total of four second-places at the Dauphine Libere, Evans has been transformed since becoming Australia's first world road race champion in 2009.

"I think people really respect Cadel. He's very professional, and not many riders, especially Grand Tour riders, can do what he does," said American teammate George Hincapie, who helped Armstrong win all seven of his record Tour triumphs.

Married to Chiara Passerini, a blonde-haired Italian music teacher who is one of his biggest supporters, Evans has been based in Italy since his early years as a professional.

He may not have enjoyed the same level of yellow jersey success as Armstrong, but he is widely considered one of the world's most 'complete' cyclists.

It is a word not used lightly in a sport teeming with specialists, from lead-out men to sprinters, specialist support riders to climbers.

With perhaps the exception of sprinting, Evans is among the few who can do it all - allowing him to win hilly one-day races, one-week stage races and the three-week Grand Tours.

On Saturday, when the Australian dispossessed Andy Schleck of the yellow jersey thanks to a formidable time trial performance, race director Christian Prudhomme was quick to pay tribute.

"In Cadel Evans, we have a true champion of the race," Prudhomme said.

Hincapie, who acted as Evans' road captain throughout the campaign, said when it comes to bike riding his Aussie teammate is just as serious as Armstrong.

"I'd say it's similar. He's very calm and collected and he really trusts his riders. He knows what part of the course is the most important to which rider he can really rely on," said Hincapie.

Evans was born in the remote Northern Territory, and spent part of his childhood in rural Armidale in New South Wales after his parents separated.

Already a keen cyclist, Evans' passion was almost ended when he was eight years old when he received a kick to the head from one of his mother's horses, leaving him in a coma for a week.

He had surgery to remove fragments of skull from his brain and a massive scar remains on his head to this day. Told to wear a "stackhat" (protective headgear) he surprised doctors by returning to school within months.

Cycling continued, and Evans was soon competing as a mountain biker. By the age of 21 he had won the first of two consecutive World Cup trophies.

Those successes meant a switch to road racing was inevitable and he joined the Italian Saeco team in 2001, winning the Tour of Austria.

A year later, with Mapei, he was on the verge of winning the Giro d'Italia only to explode 9km from the summit of the race's final climb to drop to 14th overall.

"I hadn't fully adapted to being a road rider," Evans said.

Agence France-Presse