Physically recovered from his elbow fracture sustained at the Tour de France, and condition building after a period of time training at altitude, world road race champion Cadel Evans will return to racing in two events this weekend.
The BMC Racing Team rider will get things underway in Saturday’s Paris-Brussels, then follow that up one day later with the GP de Fourmies. He is complete in those races instead of the two Canadian ProTour races taking place tomorrow and Sunday. These were originally on his schedule but he and the team decided that his return would be better served by staying in Europe and starting back there.
Aside from the disruption of travelling, the Grand Prix Cycliste of Québec and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal are taking place on very tough courses. Given the length of time Evans has spent away from competition, it makes more sense that he eases himself back into action with events that are not quite as hilly.
Directeur sportif Jean Lelangue is happy to see Evans back in action. “The good thing is that he can extend his elbow completely with no pain. He will be racing to help the team and regain the conditioning that he is missing, said the Belgian.
“Missing out on the two ProTour races in Canada was a disappointment. Cadel was unable to come to Canada because it was necessary to totally stop training after the Tour and do physical therapy. Since then, he's done some good altitude training."
Evans’s big end of season goal is to get himself into the best condition possible for the world road race championships. It will be difficult for him to defend his title, given the nature of the course and also the fact that he is missing out on the Vuelta a España, but he knows that if he doesn’t have the opportunity to win, he can at least lend experience and strength to the Australian team and perhaps assist another rider to do so.
Notwithstanding that, he’ll nevertheless line out dreaming of a second rainbow jersey. That thought will give him motivation in the weeks ahead.
Evans will have the chance to gauge his form on Saturday, particularly as the course of Paris-Brussels has been modified and the finale is a bit more selective than before. “We will have a look at doing reconnaissance," Lelangue said, knowing that it will be important for the riders to be aware of the modified route.
“If there is a group going away at that point that is important, we'll make sure we have someone in it. Otherwise, we'll prepare the sprint for Alexander Kristoff.”
Evans will be joined by seven others in the races. These are the US rider Cole House, the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff, plus the Swiss competitors Mathias Frank, Martin Kohler, Michael Schâr, Florian Stalder and Simon Zahner.
The Australian has had a superb season, even if his goals of winning the Giro and reaching the podium in the Tour de France were not realised His results in the rainbow jersey include victories in La Flèche Wallonne and on stage seven of the Giro d’Italia, the points and Azzuri d’Italia classification there plus fifth overall, third in Tirreno-Adriatico, fourth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and sixth in the Tour Down Under. He also wore leader’s jerseys in the Tour and the Giro.
Rather than pressurising him, as some expected, the mantle of world champion has been liberating and led to a more aggressive style of racing. Evans has been one of the most successful world champions of the past three decades.