Cadel Evans charged up for the Olympic Games
After having a gruelling three-week of racing in France, Cadel Evans has now turned his attention towards the 2012 Olympic Games.
The Australian is all set to represent his nation at the biggest sporting contest of the year and is all set to answer his critics, pointing fingers on his fitness at the Tour de France.
Evans was riding the French race as a reigning champion after his storming performance in the 2011 version of the race that restricted Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck for the second and the third positions.
The cyclist was marking his eighth appearance at the Tour de France and was a pre-race favourite to bag his second overall victory at the race.
Cadel started the 2012 season rather slowly with his first victory coming during the stage 2 of the Criterium International 2012.
He also grabbed an overall victory and the point’s classifications at the race and finished third at the Criterium International.
The 35-year-old could not really live up to the expectations of his fans as he struggled to overcome the in-form British cyclists.
He fell over 15 minutes short of the race leader and had to settle for the seventh overall spot after the Tour de France final general classifications.
Bradley Wiggins became the first British cyclist in the history of the sport to claim the top spot with his countryman and team-mate Christopher Froome at the second position.
Vincenzo Nibali, Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Tejay Van Garderen and Haimar Zubeldia achieved the third, the fourth, the fifth and the sixth positions in the respective order.
"Absolutely, I wouldn't bother getting on the plane if I wasn't," Evans briefed while briefing about his Olympics participation.
"The tour has been tiring for us and my Tour wasn't up to my expectations, or anyone's expectations, but for us eight days is a lot of recovery [time].
"And [there's] a bit of training to do before we get to the time trial [on August 1]".
Australian Men’s Road Coordinator Matt White also assured Cadel’s fitness for the mega event.
"He's tired, like everyone is - he's obviously still suffering a little bit from the illness he had on the rest day, but he's quite confident he'll be ready for the Olympics," White told AAP earlier.
Evans will be accompanied by Simon Gerrans, Matt Goss, Stuart O’ Grady and Michael Rogers to form a strong Australian line-up for the London Olympics.
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