But Leuchs also has plenty of fond memories of his former team-mate who has gone on to win the Tour de France.
Evans became the first Australian winner of road cycling's glamour event at the age of 34 at the weekend.
Eleven years ago, Dunedin rider Leuchs joined the elite Volvo-Cannondale mountain biking squad for the Norba and world cup circuits. His cross-country team-mates included Swiss gun Christoph Sauser and Evans, who left two years later for a career on the road.
"We kind of had two superstars but that team was amazing all round. There were some ridiculously famous riders," Leuchs recalled.
"I was sort of the newbie, the up-and-comer. It was an eye-opener because I hadn't really been on any sort of pro team at that point."
Leuchs was ranked in the top 20 in the world himself but he was happy to take a back seat to the big guns.
He trained, competed and shared hotel rooms with both star riders, and got to know Evans well.
"He was a bit high-strung and a bit high-maintenance. He demanded a lot from the team. Things had to be perfect.
"He's quite shy, and he's maybe a little bit insecure in himself, in terms of confidence. That sounds a bit ridiculous coming from someone with that much talent. But I actually think it's quite common in high-end athletes.
"Behind that, once you got to know Cadel, he was just a nice guy."
Evans hand-picked all the team's staff. That had a benefit for Leuchs when Evans brought in French coach Benoit Nave, who later coached the New Zealand rider for a decade.
Leuchs thought Evans was the "classic case" of a mountain biker attracted to road cycling because of its higher profile.
"The mountain bike circuit was a whole lot of fun and pretty relaxed. You'd look at the road riders and they travelled in their suits and nice suitcases, they had paparazzi, they had people staring at them.
"Mountain biking never had that. I road raced for one month and that was it for me. The lifestyle turned me off completely.
"But for Cadel, he wanted respect on the road and he wanted to be seen as a really important rider."
Leuchs said it was not unusual for mountain bikers to succeed on the road. One of the first successful converts was English-born Italian cyclist Dario Cioni, while Frenchman Jean-Christophe Peraud was 10th this year in his first crack at the Tour de France.
"Mountain bikers learn to climb exceptionally well. So, power-to-weight, we're very strong," Leuchs said.
"If we can adapt to the endurance of an event like the Tour de France, we can be more than competitive."
Leuchs now runs an importing business, Black Seal, in Dunedin but still regularly gets on his bike.
