Evans portrait entered for Archibald Prize

The image of Cadel Evans is set to live on forever. Australia based artist Simon Benz has just completed a massive 2 metre square portrait of the Australian cycling superstar, titled "The Persistence of Vision- Portrait of Cadel Evans", which he plans to submit for consideration in the Archibald Prize. Benz who has followed the 2007 Tour de France runner-up since his early days as a mountain biker and first met Evans on a local training ride in Ocean Grove, where he promptly asked the aspiring Tour de France champion to sit for the portrait.

Several sittings followed, and by the end of January two versions of the portrait were completed, one of which takes pride of place in Evans' Australian home.

Simon has previously been selected for the Archibald Sporting Portrait Prize in 2000 for his painting of then World Cup and national road cycling champion Anna Wilson.