CANBERRA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Victorian Institute of Sport head cycling coach, Dave Sanders said Monday he believes Cadel Evans can become a multiple Tour de France champion if he wants to.
Evans on Monday became the first Australian to win the Tour de France and, at 34, he is the oldest Tour champion in 88 years.
Sanders, who has known Evans for more than a decade and helped convince him to switch from mountain biking to road racing in 2001, said he has no doubt Evans can return and win the tour again.
"There is longevity if you're looking after yourself, which Cadel does, he does everything right," Sanders told ABC Sports on Monday.
"He could have another couple in him, for sure - whether he wants to. This was the great landmark in his mind ... this is what he's lived for."
Meanwhile, Evans' mother Helen Cocks said she always knew her son could win the Tour de France.
"He just needed the right set of circumstances and this year he got the right set of circumstances, so it worked out," Cocks said.
"It's almost been 20 years that he's been doing this.
" (He was) almost semi-professional at 15 and to do that it's a really very demanding sport and it's been a really incredible ... not only do you change your body but you give up an awful lot of things.
"You give up an awful lot of time, you don't have family time, you don't have friend time, you just work."
Australia's SBS television station has scored its largest audience of 2011, as about 704,000 Australians in the metropolitan viewing area and a further 234,000 regional viewers on Sunday night tuned in to watch Evans finishing the final stage and becomes the first Australian in history to win the world's most famous road cycling race.
