Before crossing the finish line to complete his ninth Tour, Cadel Evans was asked if this would be his last ride into Paris.

"In my heart, I don't want to leave the Tour with a result like this – not being competitive, not being in the front," the 2011 winner of the race said. "But it also depends on what the team wants to do. Remember it is an American team and Tejay van Garderen is American, for example. So we'll get this Tour done and reflect on it and sit down and see where everyone's goals are, or what they think the direction the team should take." In the final stage of the three-week race, BMC Racing Team's Manuel Quinziato figured in a short-lived breakaway before Marcel Kittel (Team Argos-Shimano) took his fourth stage win.

BMC Racing Team President/General Manager Jim Ochowicz said the performance of the team did not come close to pre-race expectations. "It's hard to diagnose at this point, but certainly not up to par with what we can do," he said. "We won the two race years ago. We certainly have the capability to win it again. We are just going to have to regroup and figure out out what happened here and take another crack at it again next year."

Different Perspective for Evans
Evans said he would like to do another edition of the Giro d'Italia since that was his first grand tour where he transitioned from a successful mountain bike career to road racing. The former world road champion said finishing the Tour in 39th place, more than an hour-and-a-half behind winner Chris Froome (Sky Procycling), has given him a different perspective on the race.

"It's funny when you're not concentrating on the results or trying to gain a second here or not lose a second there," he said. "You can appreciate and enjoy a lot of it. I was 15 or 18 minutes down yesterday, but I could see people I knew in the crowd and wave to them. That's certainly not something I have ever had a chance to do in the past."

Steve Morabito was the BMC Racing Team's best finisher overall, in 35th place, in a Tour that included a runner-up finish by van Garderen on the double climb of L'Alpe-d’Huez on Stage 18. Van Garderen said finishing 45th one year after placing fifth overall and earning the best young rider jersey was a vastly different experience. "This Tour tested me in a lot of different ways," he said. "In the end, I am just really happy to finish. It certainly gets me very motivated and already thinking about 2014."