Cycling: Fan's memento of Cadel's career start

The shock waves from Cadel Evans’ ground-breaking victory in the Tour de France at the weekend have made it all the way to Bunbury, where a rare relic from his career has been uncovered.

Bunbury chiropractor Dr Damon Willmore has his own slice of history — the entry form from Evans’ very first mountain bike race.

Prior to settling in the South West 15 years ago Willmore — a keen cyclist himself — was a neighbour of a young Evans while living at Bluelake in Melbourne’s outer north.

It was there, in 1991 that Willmore organised a race that Evans, then 14, entered.

It was his first competitive ride.

‘‘I found it (the entry form) when I was spring cleaning and I thought that I better put it to the side because he might be famous one day,’’ Willmore said.

‘‘Unbeknownst to me he’d done this race. Obviously, within two or three years he was competing on a national level and then started to compete on the world stage.’’

Evans even makes particular reference to his debut at Bluelake in his 1999 autobiography Close to Flying.

‘‘That was his first race and it’s so cool to be a part of the launching pad for his career,’’ Willmore said.

From those early days on the slopes of Bluelake, Evans, now 34, rose to be Australia’s first Tour de France champion at the weekend when he snatched the yellow jersey from Luxembourg’s Andy Shleck after a scintillating time trial through the streets of Grenoble on Saturday — the penultimate stage of the Tour.

As for the result back in 1991, Willmore awarded Evans third place in the under 15 class after a number of other riders were disqualified for cutting corners.

‘‘He went the right way, the other guys thought they might sneak past, maybe i twas a good lesson,’’ Willmore said.

‘‘By working hard and sticking by the rules, you still achieve eventually.’’