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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-25 Daily Xml
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TOUR DOWN UNDER

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (16:24): What an exciting day it is for cycling fans here in South Australia and, indeed, around the world. I have been a long-time fan of cycling, since my time living in Switzerland from 1994 to 1996, working as a journalist. I was almost an embedded journalist with the Australian cycling team back then, and a couple of young teenagers by the name of Stuart O'Grady and Brett Aitken were part of that Australian cycling team. I joined them in camps in Bergamo in Northern Italy and then travelled throughout Europe, North America and, indeed, South America. We went to the world titles in Bogota, Columbia, in 1995.

The sport was barely understood by most Australians and South Australians back in 1994 and 1995. People seemed to understand the track cycling because of the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics, but road cycling was another world. We had never done particularly well in it. Of course, we had Sir Hubert Opperman, a great pioneer in Australian cycling and a brilliant cyclist who did well on the international stage. Then in the 1980s we had Phil Anderson, who became the first Australian to wear the yellow jersey. I was fortunate to be there as this new era of Australian cycling was born and people such as Stuart O'Grady were about to pave the way for others, including Robbie McEwen and Cadel Evans, who have gone on to do so well in the Tour de France each year.

In 1999 I was working for the ABC as its cycling expert and I went back to cover the Tour de France. What an amazing race it was that year. Lance Armstrong was there. His family had come to say goodbye as he lay dying in a Texan hospital. He had been read the last rites by a priest. He fought back from testicular cancer, got back on the bike and trained and trained. On the first day back he won the prologue, and we all thought it was a fairytale because he had fought back from cancer and he had a stage win in the tour. He had on the yellow jersey as the leader going into the first stage the next day.

Along with another thousand journalists, I followed him on that journey, and it was an absolutely remarkable feat that he won the Tour de France. I remember coming across Greg LeMond on the peak of Alpe d'Huez. Greg LeMond was another American—the only other American to win the Tour de France. He won it three times, twice after coming back, like Lance Armstrong, from a near-death experience. He was shot during a pig-hunting expedition, lost a lot of blood and almost died. He came back and won the tour two more times. I interviewed Greg for the ABC and asked, 'Do you think Lance can do it? The guy nearly died.' He said that those experiences when you put your whole body on the line to fight for your survival take you to another level. Of course, we saw Lance go on and win the Tour de France in 1999, and he won it again in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and, indeed, 2005.

I saw him again in 2003, I think it was, when I was over for the Tour de France, and I saw how huge Lance was over there. He would come out of his caravan each morning, like all the other cyclists, and there were hundreds of thousands of people there to see these heroes of world cycling, but it was a different level for Lance Armstrong. He had a security cordon around him because he had become such a legend and done what other people had not been able to do. By the time he had raced and won his seventh Tour de France, he had to have a security cordon around him.

I was there again in 2006 for the final stage of the Tour de France and saw the finish on the Champs-Elysees, and it was the first tour for seven years that Lance had not competed in and won, and there was something missing. Next year, when Lance is here and makes his comeback on the streets of Adelaide, around Willunga, McLaren Vale and Aldinga (the great area that I represent in this place), I think we will see lots of tourists from interstate and overseas come here.

It is a magnificent coup to have a man of his stature come here. I think in 40 years' time people will be talking about Lance Armstrong's visit to Adelaide in much the same way as people talk about the Beatles coming here back in 1964. To those people who do not know much about cycling, my advice is to get out there and soak up the atmosphere, because you will get a chance to see an absolute legend in action.

Time expired.

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