Cadel Lee Evans born 14 February 1977) is an Australian professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. He is the first Australian to win the Tour. Early in his career, Evans was a champion mountain biker, winning the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing seventh in the men's cross-country mountain bike race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Evans had a much more successful start to 2011, winning stage 4 and the general classification at the Tirreno–Adriatico, and the general classification at the Tour de Romandie, both of which form part of the 2011 UCI World Tour. Skipping the Giro d'Italia, Evans prepared for the 2011 Tour de France by finishing as runner-up in the Criterium du Dauphine, one of the major Tour warm up events.

Evans finished second on stage one of the Tour de France, and won stage 4, the second Tour de France stage win of his career. Evans then led the mountains classification after stage 4 for a single day. As the tour continued Evans was looked upon often to chase down breakaways in order to preserve his position in the top 5 of the general classification (GC) and in order to maintain time gaps that he believed he could strategically make up in the individual time trial of stage 20. During stage 19 of the Tour, Evans was forced to chase an early breakaway containing the GC contenders and led by three time champion Alberto Contador. However, he experienced mechanical trouble and was forced to change bikes. He again led the peloton to pull back the contender group, keeping himself within striking distance for overall victory by remaining just under a minute behind Andy Schleck.

Evans wearing the yellow jersey during the final stage of the 2011 Tour de FranceOn the time trial, the last stage before Paris, Evans took the lead of the general classification by 1' 34" after finishing close second in the stage, beating previous race leader Andy Schleck by 2' 31". With the win he became the first Australian to win the Tour de France and the oldest to win the overall general classification in the post-war era. Evans' win elicited much celebration in his home nation with calls for a national holiday as his win was compared to that of the 1983 America's Cup which was considered Australia's greatest sporting achievement. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard personally phoned to congratulate Evans saying that "I do want to say a very big congratulations to Cadel Evans. I had the opportunity this morning to speak and to personally offer my congratulations. I believe I disturbed him while he was trying to get a nice, hot bath."

Evans himself commented on his win immediately following the tour admitting he was unsure of how his win would be felt in Australia, he said that "I haven't had time to consider that aspect, to be honest. It's been a long, long process and it will take a long time to realise what it means. A few people always believed in me and they're the people that matter the most. We did it. It's been a real pleasure these past three weeks." At a homecoming parade held on his return to Australia, tens of thousands of people turned out, many dressed in yellow and waving yellow flags, in Melbourne's Federation Square. A state reception was held in his honour.

Evans turned to full-time road cycling in 2001, and gradually progressed through the ranks. He finished second in the 2007 and 2008 Tours de France. He became the first Australian to win the UCI ProTour (2007) and the UCI Road World Championships in 2009. Finally, he won the Tour de France in 2011, riding for BMC Racing Team, after two Tours riddled with bad luck. At age 34, he was among the five oldest winners in the race's history.

Evans started his international career in 1995 as a Scholarship-holder in the Australian Institute of Sport mountain bike (MTB) Program, under A.I.S. Cycling Program's MTB coach Damien Grundy, and up to 1998 under road coach Heiko Salzwedel. He won bronze medals at the 1995 Junior world mountain bike championship and Junior world road time trial championship, and silver medals at the 1997 and 1999 under-23 world championships. In 1998 Shayne Bannan was the under-23 road cycling coach based in Italy.

In 1997, he rode for the Diamondback MTB team, and then for the Volvo-Cannondale MTB team.

In the summer of 2000 after consultation with Michele Ferrari under the management of Tony Rominger, Evans switched to road cycling full-time.

He has ridden for Saeco (2001), Mapei (2002) and Team Telekom (2003–2004). In Mapei, he was coached by Aldo Sassi, who helped him make the transition from mountain biker to grand tourer. After Sassi's death from cancer in 2010, Evans continued cooperation with his protege Andrea Morelli. After winning the Tour in 2011, Evans dedicated the victory to the late coach. From the 2005 season he joined Davitamon-Lotto and came eighth in his first Tour de France, the first Australian in the top ten since Phil Anderson.