The 2011 Tour de France champion Cadel Evans has decided to bring his current racing season to a premature close, with he and his team deciding that he can’t regain peak form this year and that it is better to prepare for 2013.
Evans has had a mixed season, winning Criterium International and netting third in the Critérium du Dauphiné in June, but also being some way off defending his titles in the Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour du Romandie.
In addition to that his main season goals didn’t work out; he was ill during the Tour de France and finished back in seventh, didn’t line out in the Olympic time trial and was 80th in the Olympic road race. However he still managed to clock up 19 top ten finishes, showing he still had a decent level of consistency.
On August 27th the team said that his form fluctuations were thought to be down to an intermittent low grade infection. In addition to that, he was forced to withdraw during the USA Pro Cycling Challenge by a problem with his right knee.
Medical examinations have shown that appears to be over both issues, but the fact that it is so late in the year has led to him putting the brakes on.
“I'm disappointed surely, but in the end, there's nothing I can do,” he reasoned. “I wanted to come back and race this year but it could possibly compromise my 2013. At this point, we can't afford to do that. So I'll completely recover and do what I can to be back to my normal level next year.”
He had next been due to race in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec City and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, running this coming Friday and Sunday respectively.
BMC Racing Team Directeur Sportif John Lelangue would like to have seen him race well in the remaining targets but is also realistic.
“We want for him to be competitive in 2013,” he explained. “There is only the world championships and the Tour of Lombardia as big races where he could have been one of the favourites. But you have to be 100 percent for those races and with his actual state now, it's a wise decision to stop now and totally rest and recover and then rebuild for next season.”