Team News: Season Ends for Australian Cadel Evans

A suspected low grade infection may force Cadel Evans to cut short his season, BMC Racing Team Chief Medical Officer Dr Max Testa announced Monday.

After racing at the USA Pro Challenge in Colorado, Evans will return to Europe to undergo testing in Milan this week for what the BMC Racing Team medical staff believes may be an off-and-on low grade infection. “Despite his usual full commitment and attention to training, Cadel has been experiencing unusual up and downs on his performance,” Dr. Testa said.

“Getting him back to full health and to his physiological standard of performance is a priority for the BMC Racing Team. If the testing goes as expected, Evans may return for the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on Sept. 9 in Canada.

Last year’s Tour de France champion has experienced an up-and-down season, winning the two-day Critérium International in March, placing 29th at the Tour de Romandie in April, finishing third at the Critérium du Dauphiné in June and seventh at the Tour de France in July. At the Olympic Games, he finished 80th in the road race before withdrawing from the time trial. “I didn’t know what was holding me down at the time,” Evans said.

“Now we have a better idea, and it’s a relief to have some indicators as to why I have been under-performing. When you don’t know why you’re not performing, you have to ask a lot of questions of yourself.” Evans apologized for not being able to perform up to the expectations.

“It’s been disappointing for me, but I’d like to thank my teammates and people who are close to me – my family and so on – for supporting me during this frustrating period. The first thing is to get healthy and then come back to my best.”