Perth-raised Connor Delves’ one-man show Cadel: Lungs On Legs brings Cadel Evans story to Hale School stage

Perth-raised, New York-based actor Connor Delves anticipated that one day he would have a life-changing project. The 29-year-old has found it in his one-man show Cadel: Lungs On Legs, chronicling the true story of 2011 Tour de France-winning Australian cyclist Cadel Evans. “It’s a massive challenge, this show, to pull it off and to do what I’m doing on stage every night is really difficult,” Delves says from his home in Manhattan, after sold-out seasons in London and at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. “But it just feels like the project that’s going to change my life and hopefully inspire a few others along the way.” Delves describes the show experience as if the audience is on the side of the road in France watching the race, with an earpiece into what is happening in Evans’ head while he is riding, which Delves really does, averaging 27km per performance. Not only that, but he is cycling on Evans’ bike from the 2011 Tour de France. “They only made 141 of them and this is the actual one that he road across the finish line in Paris, so it’s really special,” Delves explains. “I’m wearing the actual jersey that he crossed the line in when he won stage four of that Tour de France. I happened to be exactly the same height as Cadel and I’m now the same weight as him, after doing the show for long enough. I’m not allowed to wash it. “We’ve got a lot of his original gear, thanks to Cadel and thanks to BMC Switzerland, who also sponsor the show. I ride three bikes in the show, all from the actual tour.” The smell of rubber will forever remind Delves of his formative years growing up in Inglewood, with his triathlon-competing mum Vicki and mountain-bike-racing dad Gary who owned cycling shop Bike Force South Perth. Gary once raced against a teenage Evans in Cairns the year Connor was born, holding no grudges to being beaten by the emerging champion. Years later the athletic Delves family stayed up late to watch Evans’ triumph as the first and only Australian to have conquered cycling’s most prestigious race. It was those family industry connections that helped Delves land a Zoom meeting with Evans in November 2024, where he pitched his idea for Cadel: Lungs On Legs. “You don’t have to ask someone who’s in the public eye for their blessing, but I wanted to, because I believe he’s a hero and collaborating with the actual person is a real delight, if you can,” Delves said. “He said he was really humbled and grateful and he has been incredible, giving me some things that he’s never said publicly, that are in the show. He’s given me things that aren’t in his book, with some real insight into how he speaks to himself on the bike when he’s riding flat-out to try and claw back the lead. “He didn’t have any teammates or cameras around him, so it’s the first time revealing some of the things that he would say to himself, and some stories that he’s given me that really are invaluable.” Delves’ desire to bring the Australian sporting story to the stage is in keeping with his objective to share Australian stories with New York audiences by founding the Australian Theatre Festival NYC in The Big Apple with co-artistic director and fellow expat Mark Barford, originally from Mandurah. Delves moved to New York 12 years ago to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and while his timing might not have been the best to plan the inaugural non-profit theatre festival for May 2020 — pivoting to an online festival that year — it now employs about 100 Australians in New York and from Australia who travel over for the annual event. Barford is also the director of Cadel: Lungs On Legs, which will mark its Australian premiere in Perth during February at Delves’ alma mater, Hale School. The season opens the campus’s Cygnet Theatre as a professional venue that co-exists with the school and Redfoot Youth Theatre while also presenting international work. Evans is planning to attend the Perth season — recently extended due to popular demand — which will be his first time seeing the show live. “We wanted to bring endurance sport to the stage and not only is it an incredible physical achievement, but what Cadel had to go through, overcoming the odds, is an unbelievable story,” Delves said. “It merges physical theatre, endurance sport and a traditional play in that sense that we’re going through his whole life, with obviously the 2011 tour, which he won in historic fashion. It’s a high-octane theatrical experience. The audience have all been on the edge of their seats and engaging, as they were at the tour, screaming and clapping when he wins.” Cadel: Lungs On Legs is at Cygnet Theatre, Hale School, Wembley Downs, February 4 to 11. Tickets at events.humanitix.com/cadel-lungs-on-legs.