Evans named "Sports Performer of the Year"

Second-place Tour de France finisher Cadel Evans was awarded the Sydney Morning Herald's Sports Performer of the Year. Upon accepting the award, Evans said he would donate his AUS$50,000 award to two charities - the Amy Gillett Foundation and to Ian Thorpe's Fountain for Youth.

The 2007 UCI ProTour winner beat out six other athletes who were nominated by readers of the Herald and the Age papers.

Amy Gillett was an Australian cyclist killed while struck by a car during preparations for a stage race in Germany in July of 2005. "It is my way of saying thank you for the support everyone has given me here," Evans said according to the Herald. "I think the Amy Gillett Foundation would be a much worthier benefactor [of the money] than me." He added that his career hit a major turning point during the Tour de France held the same summer Gillett was killed.

The Fountain of Youth was created by Olympic star Thorpe to treat illness and disease in people under age 20. Evans commended Thorpe for his visits to an area where Evans himself lived in the Northern Territory Aboriginal commune of Barunga during the first three years of his life.

On Sunday, Evans will participate in the Tour de Cadel charity ride in Sydney from St Leonards to Centennial Park. The event is a fund-raising effort for the David Peachey Foundation, which supports indigenous children.