Cadel Evans welcomes the early season break due to Illness
Cadel Evans of Team BMC is currently enjoying time-off his bike after suffering from a viral infection at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado.
The former Tour de France winner could not finish the American race and ended his 2012 campaign after returning back to his home in Italy where he awaits further results to analyse his fitness.
The cyclist will now undergo blood-testing in Milan later this week as noted by Dr. Max Testa, Team BMC Chief Medical Officer.
"The plan is still to maintain the winter training schedule that was discussed before".
"So there's no reason to think we will change his training program at all for next season," Max voiced.
The Australian was disappointed after missing out on USA Pro Cycling Challenge and is now looking forward for the 2013 version of the race.
"I'm disappointed surely, but in the end, there's nothing I can do," he said.
However, the cyclist has accepted his fate and welcomed the early off-season break, "Once we had a good idea of what was affecting me, I didn't want to compromise my 2013 by racing longer," he noted.
"So it's been nice to take a good rest and completely recover from this virus and work toward being back to my normal level next year. Being a first-year dad, I've also enjoyed the free time with my family," he concluded.
The 35-year-old had a terrific past season and his popularity rose immensely after he registered the biggest victory of his professional career at the Tour de France 2011, overcoming Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck.
He bagged as many as 584 UCI points throughout the season and secured the second position after the UCI World Tour Elite Men rankings.
Philippe Gilbert of Team Omega Pharma-Lotto secured the first position with 718 points while Joaquim Rodriguez (446 points), Michele Scarponi (419 points) and Tony Martin (349 points) occupied the next three positions last year.
Cadel’s 2012 performance graph dropped down dramatically, in comparison to his past season’s achievements.
The cyclist managed to secure only one overall victory at the Criterium International along with the point’s classifications and a stage victory at the race.
He finished seventh overall at the Tour de France 2012, along with a third overall finish, point’s classifications and a stage victory at the Criterium du Dauphine 2012.
Evans could only manage 182 UCI points this year and is at the bottom of the UCI World Tour Individual Rankings.
He holds the 23rd overall position while Joaquim Rodriguez has managed to grab the first overall position with 692 UCI points.
Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky (601UCI Points) and Tom Boonen of Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step (410 UCI Points) holds at the second and the third positions respectively.
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