Evans withdraws from Olympic Time Trial

Silence-Lotto's Cadel Evans, who finished second in the Tour de France general classification on Sunday, withdrew from Olympic Games time trial due to injury. He has yet to decide whether he will travel to Beijing to contest the road race.

On Monday, the 31 year-old Evans had dismissed rumours he had suffered an injury that might threaten his Olympic Games campaign, but after the flight home to Switzerland his right knee swelled up and he visited an orthopaedic specialist for precautionary scans.

"I slipped on a wet floor on Sunday night and my team doctor immediately had a look at it and said not to worry," said Evans, who had been at the official post Tour team dinner. "I immediately headed back to the hotel and to bed and on Monday morning I felt a bit sore but didn't feel I'd done any damage.

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"But on the flight home my knee began to swell up so I had to consider going to see a specialist who recommended cancelling my ride in the criterium in Belgium in favour of getting some scans done," said Evans. "It's not a major injury but it's something I will have to manage carefully.

"I recognised I might not be at my absolute best in the race against the clock but I can still make a significant contribution to the team effort for the road race," said Evans. "I'll be training and getting treatment over the next few days to confirm my participation by Monday.

"But I will not take a place in Beijing if everything doesn't go according to plan," said Evans who would not elaborate on the details of the injury. "I don't want to go into the details, I just want to focus on overcoming it so I can race in China."

This week, Evans will undergo further treatment.

He will be replaced in the Olympic time trial by three-time World Champion, Michael Rogers, who was second at the Good Luck Beijing road cycling test last year. Australia has qualified one starting position for the men's time trial at the Olympic Games.