All speculations regarding a future of Cadel Evans in professional cycling will come to and end next week, as the 37-year old Australian decided to reveal it at a press conference which will be held just before the start of the World Championships in Ponferrada. Even though the former Tour de France champion refused to specify what decision he has made, it seems unlikely to call a press conference only to announce contract extension with BMC racing.
“I am wondering about that, too,” Evans laughed before the start of the stage 18 at the Vuelta a España. “We are going to make an announcement before the worlds.
“I’d like to, because I want to go to the worlds fully concentrated, and have everything in my head about what’s going on,” Evans told VeloNews and another reporter. “I want to stay focused, to have a really good finish to the season, with the worlds, and Giro di Lombardia.”
2014 season was very unusual for Evans, as for the first time since nine years he hasn’t participated in the Tour de France, leaving the leadership role at BMC for Tejay Van Garderen. The Giro d’Italia was the biggest objective for the 37-year old Australian, but three weeks of hard racing proved to be too much for him this time around and despite holding the pink jersey for several days, he eventually finished eighth in the general classification.
Even more surprisingly, the former Tour de France champion lined-up at the Vuelta a Espana without any GC ambitions, riding in a support of his team mate Samuel Sanchez, what was an entirely new experience for him.
“This is my second of 18 grand tours … without the intentions of riding for GC,” Evans said. “This is the first one I came here to be good for ‘Samu.’ It’s a real change of mentality.
While announcing the press conference coming next week, Evans revealed that the 2014 season didn’t went as planned mainly due to circumstances not related to cycling. Still, the Australian veteran proved that he is still capable of winning races, claiming stage victories at Santos Tour Down Under, Tour of Utah and winning Giro del Trentino overall.
“My performance has been a lot lower than I expected, but I have a lot of things going on in my life, and I haven’t been as concentrated as I would have liked to have been. It’s coming better now. Better late than never.”
Whatever Evans’ decision in regards to his future in professional cycling would be, the Australian confirmed that he will participate in upcoming World Championships and Il Lombardia.
“I didn’t ride the Tour de France, and I worked hard before the Tour Down Under to arrive good there, and I think there are a lot of riders who are tired from the season. Fatigue is a big factor in this part of the year, so it will be interesting to see who is going well at the worlds,” he said.
“From what I understand, Michael Matthews is going to be our guy. Same thing, I go there with a different role,” Evans said of the worlds. “If it’s a hard, aggressive race, maybe it will be for me, or for [Simon] Gerrans. If it’s a real fast race, and it comes together as a group, my efforts will be riding into breakaways in the last lap. That’s how the worlds go, one minute, you think all is lost, and then next minute, you’re right there for the win.”
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