Hip injury forces Roe out of Tour Down Under

South Australian Tim Roe will miss his home WorldTour race, the BMC rider forced out of the Santos Tour Down Under through injury it has been announced.

Mathias Frank, winner of the mountains classification at the Tour de Suisse in 2010, will be Roe's replacement joining Alessandro Ballan, Adam Blythe, Marcus Burghardt, Martin Kohler, Manuel Quinziato, Greg Van Avermaet.

Roe said the pain he is feeling in his hip is an ongoing issue that flared up near the end of his first professional season. "It's probably due to my increased workload and how hard the racing was," Roe said.

"For sure, this is disappointing. I would have loved to have raced my home race, but I know how hard it is to get ready for the season and this will help make my body right."

BMC Racing Team Chief Medical Officer Dr. Max Testa said while Roe is still training and adjusting his position on the bike, holding him out of the six-stage race that starts January 17 is a precaution to prevent long-term damage.

"We will re-evaluate Tim this week, but we do expect him to be able to participate in training camp next month," Testa explained.