The 2015 season proved to be an historic one for New Zealander Brad Evans as he first claimed victory in Australia's premier stage race, the Tour of Tasmania, then added New Zealand's oldest stage race, Tour of the Southland. Having achieved a rare Trans-Tasman double, the 23-year-old also squeezed in a stagiaire ride with Drapac at the Tour of Hainan cracking the top ten on stage 5 and helping lead out Brenton Jones to victory on the final day.
Enjoying a day of rest after his Southland victory, Evans told Cyclingnews his primary aim for the season was to make his mark on the National Road Series (NRS) and enjoy racing in Australia with Pat Veg's Racing.
"This season I really wanted to establish myself in Australia and become one of the top riders on the NRS, really get a foot hold and gain experience over there was the main goal to follow in the footsteps of few other Kiwis and other Australians that have gone onto bigger things so I thought it would be good place to start," said Evans who finished fourth on the individual NRS standings. "The racing in Australia is really aggressive and quite renowned world wide and it was quite close for me to come over from New Zealand than it was to go to Europe for example.
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"It's a fantastic event and especially for us Kiwi's we really enjoy going over there and getting some big fields to race in, tougher competition and much more organised teams. The racing here in New Zealand is much smaller, it's equally aggressive but it's a different style of racing so when you go to Australia it's good to challenge yourself over there."
Joe Cooper made history by becoming the first New Zealander to claim overall NRS honours in 2014 with countryman and Avanti teammate Patrick Bevin repeating the dosage in 2015. A "a racers racer", the versatile Evans could well just make it a three peat in 2016 with stage wins in the NRS followed by Tour of Tasmania victory ensuring he will be rider to watch, and for rival teams a rider to mark, next year.
A stage win at the Tour of the Great South Coast gave Evans the sensation he was in "good form" on the eve of the Tour of Tasmania, adding that his climbing had become a "good strength of mine" and was ready to chase to stage wins and from there see what eventuated on GC.
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