2008 Cycling Lowlights: Most Unlucky Rider, Cadel Evans

Battered and bruised, but in yellow, at least for a little while, at the Tour

Cadel Evans came into 2008 as the number one favorite for the Tour de France after an excellent 2nd place in the 2007 edition. Evan' finished behind Astana's Alberto Contador, and with the Spaniard and his team not invited to the 2008 edition, the path to victory for the Aussie seemed clear. Evans prepared from the beginning of the season exclusively for the Tour, and he looked in top form when the race started in Brest.

After an uneventful first week of racing, Evans was involved in a crash on stage 9 during a descent. He bruised and scraped the entire left side of his body, but was able to continue riding through his strong will and desire to compete. The next day, he was able to withstand a huge attack from CSC's Frank Schleck, and Evans took the yellow jersey by a scant one second at the end of the day. But unfortunately, the damage had been done, as the injuries sustained to Evans would haunt his the rest of the Tour.

In the end, Evans continued to lose his good form, until the final time trial of the event rolled around. Evans was withing striking distance of Carlos Sastre heading into that final time trial, but it was not meant to be. Sastre beat Evans outright, as the Australian had been unable to properly recover from his stage 9 crash. The, at his post-Tour celebration party for his second place overall finish, Evans slipped on a wet floor and injured his knee. The injury was serious enough to torpedo Evans' bid for an Olympic title.

Instead of heading to Beijing, Evans stayed home to treat the injured knee. And at the end of a long 2008, the best Evans had to show for his efforts, once again, was a second place overall in the Tour. Hopefully, with other riders emerging in 2009 as favorites, the pressure will be off Cadel, allowing him to just ride his bike and not have to concentrate on the constant media exposure and pressure.

Honorable mention for most unlucky rider goes to Dave Zabriskie. The mercurial American had a terrible crash at the Giro d'Italia, breaking his back. The injury affected his entire season, and were it not for a third straight American time trial championship, 2008 would have been a waste for the Garmin veteran. Zabriskie will hope to stay upright and off the tarmac in 2009, as he looks to help his Garmin team take the next step as an international cycling powerhouse.