Evans to miss Flèche-Wallonne and LBL

pottssteve

According to BMC media:

"Evans Withdraws From Remaining Ardennes Races

Cadel Evans will not participate in Flèche-Wallonne on Wednesday and Liège–Bastogne–Liège on Sunday while he continues his recovery from a sinus infection, the BMC Racing Team announced Monday.

Better Recovery At Home
BMC Racing Team Chief Medical Officer Max Testa said Evans, a past winner of Flèche-Wallonne, was motivated to play a supporting role in the two races. But after withdrawing from Sunday's Amstel Gold Race, the decision was made for the defending Tour de France champion to return home to help speed his recovery. "Cadel has the Tour of Romandie coming in one week and with this infection, we don't want to take any risks," Dr. Testa said. "The weather won't be helpful – it's going to be rainy and cold here – so it was probably the best decision we could make in the interest of the health of the rider."

frenchfighter

Ah sucks...better change my avatar...

LeicesterLad

BMC really not having much fun this season are they - Although i'm backing Gilbert for LBL now...

Yellow Peril

LeicesterLad wrote:

BMC really not having much fun this season are they - Although i'm backing Gilbert for LBL now...

Agreed. On paper it is a team of big hitters but they just haven't delivered this season. I hope the big names are on a predominantly bonus orientated contract or I can see a bike manufacturer going out of business in the not too distant future.

richard wants a baum

Yellow Peril wrote:

LeicesterLad wrote:

BMC really not having much fun this season are they - Although i'm backing Gilbert for LBL now...

Agreed. On paper it is a team of big hitters but they just haven't delivered this season. I hope the big names are on a predominantly bonus orientated contract or I can see a bike manufacturer going out of business in the not too distant future.

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/anthony-tan/blog/125965/the-colour-of-money

“The base logic [to selling] is that you must afford a certain (level of) promotion. If you don’t afford it then you’ll never get an image,” he said. “We created the race team for the purpose of promoting our product.”

The bottom line is that Rihs is simply a bike enthusiast at heart. A very rich bike enthusiast at heart.

While i think the article is complete crap there is a insight on how the team is funded, obviously return in $ terms. Also if they win the Tour again then they've shut most of the critics up.

pottssteve

Yellow Peril wrote:

LeicesterLad wrote:

BMC really not having much fun this season are they - Although i'm backing Gilbert for LBL now...

Agreed. On paper it is a team of big hitters but they just haven't delivered this season. I hope the big names are on a predominantly bonus orientated contract or I can see a bike manufacturer going out of business in the not too distant future.

I watched the Amstel race at various locations and each time the peloton passed me BMC were on the front. Van Avermaet especially rode a strong race in blustery, cold conditions, delivering Gilbert perfectly. They are a strong team but Evans has a sinus infection and Gilbert has, as he predicted, not hit the stellar heights of last year. Hushovd has been off the radar. They are having a difficult start to the season but a couple of wins - Romandie and the Tour, for example (!) should start to repay the investment. Whether you're on a bonus or not, if you haven't got the legs or the luck you're not going to win these races.